Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: Although there are some studies regarding the effects of cigarette smoking on serum total cortisol (STC) and salivary cortisol (SaC) levels, the results are still challenging. For this purpose, we aimed to determine the effects of cigarette smoking on STC and/ or SaC levels in a small group of healthy volunteers.

Study design: 15 (five female and ten male) cigarette smoker with the mean age of 39.47±14.27, and 15 age and gender matched non-smoker (mean age: 42.47±13.46) healthy people recruited to the study. Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis was evaluated by basal STC and SaC levels, and STC and SaC responses to standard dose (250 μg) ACTH stimulation test. STC and SaC levels were obtained basal and stimulated conditions.

Results: Basal STC levels were statistically lower in smokers than non-smokers (8.41±4.52 and 13.36±6.68 μg/dl, respectively). Although peak STC were lower in smoker male group than non-smoker male group (30.41±5.79 and 41.10±12.87 μg/dl, respectively), SaC levels were not different (2.41±0.31 and 2.16±1.00 μg/dl, respectively). SaC levels were not affected by cigarette smoking in overall group or in the sub-groups of gender, either.

Conclusion: In our study, SaC levels were not found to be different in smoker group than non-smokers. Further studies including more subjects are needed.