TO ASSESS IMPACT OF SMOKING ON MICROALBUMINURIA AND URINARY ALBUMIN CREATININE RATIO LEVELS IN NONDIABETIC NORMOTENSIVE SMOKERS

Smoking is associated with an excessive morbidity and mortality from a variety of diseases. Smoking damages the vascular and various hormonal systems of the human body. The aim of this study was to find out the effects of smoking on renal function study in non-diabetic, normotensive subjects. Smokers are also at a high risk of developing carcinoma of the larynx, stomach, esophagus, pancreas, urinary bladder, ureter, kidney, cervix and other important organs. Studies have shown that prevalence of microalbuminuria is almost double in smokers when compared to non-smokers. This study was conducted in 60 non-diabetic, normotensive and non-obese subjects who were attending the general medicine outpatient clinic at Pulmonary Medicine, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences. 120 non-diabetic, normotensive and non-obese subjects were included in this study from the general medicine outpatient clinic. A brief history and clinical examination were done. The baseline physical charactersitics and biochemical charactersitics of these two groups were compared used statistical tests. The cut off value for microalbuminuria in this study is taken as 20 mg/L. In our study the mean age of the study subjects is 48.29. The mean age for smokers is 46.79 and the mean age for the non-smokers is 46.19. The chi square P value comparing these two means is <0.001. Hence the difference is statistically significant and this shows that smokers had significantly high urine albumin levels when compared to non-smokers. Smoking significantly reduces the HDL level; however, no significant effect on serum creatinine and creatinine clearance.