Eisenga MF, et al. - The intention of the authors was to explore the effect of active smoking on the hematocrit and fasting circulating erythropoietin (EPO) levels. Data shed light on a dose-dependent inverse correlation between smoking exposure depicted via 24-hour urinary cotinine excretion levels with EPO levels. Smoking illustrated an inverse link with EPO levels in the general population.

Methods

• Data was analyzed from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease study, which was a prospective population-based cohort study.
• Herein, smoking behavior was quantified as number of cigarettes smoked per day and as 24-hour urinary cotinine excretion levels, an objective and quantitative measure of nicotine exposure.

Results

• Findings exhibited that the prevalence of nonsmokers, former smokers, and current smokers were 29%, 43%, and 28%, respectively in 6,808 community-dwelling participants.
• Higher hematocrit levels were discovered in current smokers (41.4%±3.6%) compared to nonsmokers (40.3%±3.6%) (P < .001).
• On the other hand, median EPO levels appeared to be lower in current smokers (7.5 IU/L; interquartile range [IQR], 5.7-9.6 IU/L) than in nonsmokers (7.9 IU/L; IQR, 6.0-10.7 IU/L) (P < .001).
• Current smoking compared with nonsmoking, exhibited an independent, positive link with hematocrit levels (β=.12; P < .001) and hemoglobin levels (β=.11; P < .001), but an inverse relation with EPO levels (β=-.09; P < .001), as disclosed via multivariate linear regression analysis.