Effect of Heavy Cigarette Smoking on Renal and Myocardial Arterioles

While cigarette smoking is felt to damage small vessels in organs not in direct contact with smoke, the kidney has not been considered a target organ. Sections of kidney and myocardium in 40 autopsied subjects without known disease which damage small vessels (21 smokers, 4 ex-smokers and 15 nonsmokers) were examined to determine if the percentage of intima (IP) was increased in small (less than 150 microns) and larger (150-550 microns) arterioles. In both organs and in all vessels, mean IP was significantly greater in smokers. The degree of increase did not correlate with smoking dosage (in pack-years) but did show a positive correlation with age in the kidney but not the heart. In the kidney, at all ages studied, IP was significantly increased in smokers compared to nonsmokers. We conclude that the kidney is another target organ of smoking. Whether this causes clinical disease is unknown.