Association between smoking status and the parameters of vascular structure and function in adults: results from the EVIDENT study

BACKGROUND: The present study analyses the relation between smoking status and the parameters used to assess vascular structure and function. METHODS: This cross-sectional, multi-centre study involved a random sample of 1553 participants from the EVIDENT study. Measurements: The smoking status, peripheral augmentation index and ankle-brachial index were measured in all participants. In a small subset of the main population (265 participants), the carotid intima-media thickness and pulse wave velocity were also measured. RESULTS: After controlling for the effect of age, sex and other risk factors, present smokers have higher values of carotid intima-media thickness (p = 0.011). Along the same lines, current smokers have higher values of pulse wave velocity and lower mean values of ankle-brachial index but without statistical significance in both cases. CONCLUSIONS: Among the parameters of vascular structure and function analysed, only the IMT shows association with the smoking status, after adjusting for confounders.