Acute Effects of Postexercise Cigarette Smoking on Central Hemodynamics and Endothelial Function in Young Men

Purpose: Recovery from exercise is a vulnerable phase that has been linked to increased susceptibility to sudden cardiovascular events. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. We tested the hypothesis that postexercise cigarette smoking would attenuate hemodynamics and vascular function during recovery from exercise in young men. Methods: Thirteen habitual smokers (age, 223 years; body mass index, 25.13.6 kg/m 2 ) participated in (1) cigarette smoking (0.6 mg nicotine) and (2) sham smoking (SHAM) immediately postexercise (30 minutes on a treadmill; 40% to 60% of heart rate HR reserve) in a randomized order. Assessments were hemodynamics (HR, rate-pressure product RPP, brachial and central artery blood pressures) and vascular function (arterial stiffness via carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity PWV; conduit vessel function via brachial artery flow-mediated dilation FMD). All variables were assessed at baseline, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes postexercise, except for FMD (baseline and 30 minutes postexercise). Results: Compared with the SHAM trial, cigarette smoking increased HR, RPP, and brachial and central blood pressures postexercise (interaction, p 0.05). PWV reduced and FMD increased postexercise in the SHAM trial, while cigarette smoking attenuated exercise-induced improvements (interaction, p 0.05). Conclusion: Cigarette smoking attenuated hemodynamic recovery and an improvement in arterial stiffness and conduit vessel function in young habitual smokers, thereby providing evidence for the negative effects of cigarette smoking during recovery from exercise.