Evaluation of Blood Levels of Prothrombin Time, Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time, D-Dimer and TNF-Á in Adult Male Cigarette Smokers in Nnewi Metropolis

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. WHO has estimated that cigarette smoking will kill about ten million people by 2030, if its trend persists. This study aimed to evaluate the PT, APTT, D-dimer and TNF-á levels of male cigarette smokers in Nnewi. Sixty-seven smokers and sixty-seven non-smokers aged 18-60 years were enrolled in the study. Five millitres of blood were withdrawn from the participants, 3mls was dispensed into 0.3ml of trisodium citrate for analysis of PT and APTT, which was properly mixed, spun and the plasma separated for immediate analysis. The remaining blood was dispensed into a plain tube, spun and serum separated for D-dimer and TNF-á analysis. Quick one stage and Proctor and Rapaport methods were employed for PT and APTT analysis respectively while ELISA method was used for D-dimer and TNF-á assessments. SPSS version 23 was used to analyse data obtained, Students'-t test was done and P value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant at 95% confidence interval. Results revealed a significant shortened PT (seconds) (9.24±2.81) and APTT (seconds) (29.94±5.88) of smokers when compared with the controls (12.60±1.56 and 33.19±4.78, P= 0.000 and 0.001) respectively, while a significant increase was seen in D-dimer (ng/ml) (159.84±28.82) and TNF-á (pg/ml) (14.07±7.08) levels of smokers when compared to the controls (117.03±19.29 and 3.65±1.62, P=0.000 and 0.000) respectively. TNF-á showed a weak positive significant increase (r=0.276, P=0.024) when average number of sticks smoked per day were correlated with the studied parameters while PT (r=-0.272, P=0.026) and APTT (r=-0.264, P=0.031) showed a weak negative significant decrease, TNF-á(r=0.654, P=0.000) revealed a strong positive significant increase when correlated with the duration of cigarette smoking. Conclusively, it can be elucidated that cigarette smoking has both coagulatory and inflammatory effects on smokers. It's recommended that the Nigerian government should ban audios and visuals that encourage smoking and make the product less easily available.