Association of Heavy Smoking With High Body Mass Index and Cardiovascular Risk Score in Japan.

Objective: Although smoking, an established cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, is a modifier of body mass index (BMI), studies are still lacking addressing a potential association between smoking and BMI or BMI-related risk factors in Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between smoking and BMI or CVD risk factors in a working-age population in Japan.

Methods: Eight thousand eight hundred thirty-six male and seven thousand three hundred seventy female health checkup examinees in a single center without self-reported heart disease or stroke were analyzed by multiple regression analysis for an association between the smoking status (never, current, or past) or the number of cigarettes consumed (never (0/day), mild (< 10/day), moderate (10-19/day) or heavy (≧ 20/day)) and age-adjusted BMI. In subgroups of 3430 males and 2407 females, the predictive risk score of CVD from the Hisayama study except for the smoking item was calculated and compared among groups with different smoking habits.

Results: In the analysis of the association between smoking and BMI, age-adjusted BMI was significantly higher in heavy smokers than never, mild, or moderate smokers in males ( < 0.01 vs. never,  < 0.05 vs. mild,  < 0.01 vs. moderate). Past smokers exhibited a higher CVD risk score than never or current smokers ( < 0.01 vs. never,  < 0.01 vs. current). Even though the score of the smoking item was excluded from the calculation, heavy smokers showed a significantly higher CVD risk score than the other three groups in males ( < 0.01 vs. never,  < 0.05 vs. mild,  < 0.01 vs. moderate). This was accompanied by the deterioration of CVD risk factors, including diabetes, dyslipidemia, proteinuria, and lack of exercise habit.

Conclusions: Smoking status or the number of cigarettes was associated with age-adjusted BMI or CVD risk factors in Japanese males.