Key result
Smoking was associated with significantly higher mean serum antitrypsin activity compared to nonsmokers, and hospitalized patients' levels exceeded blood bank donors by 51%.
Why the study?
Does smoking status and disease category affect serum antitrypsin activity in hospitalized patients?
Observational (n=1,829)
Does smoking status and disease category affect serum antitrypsin activity in hospitalized patients?
Serum antitrypsin activity is significantly elevated in hospitalized patients, particularly those with infectious, respiratory, or neoplastic diseases, and is further increased by smoking.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Elevated antitrypsin activity in smokers and hospitalized patients should not yet change practice; leaves open its value as a biomarker in prospective studies.
The mean serum antitrypsin (AT) activity for 1,829 patients hospitalized with medical problems exceeded the mean for a group of blood bank donors by 51%. Analysis of data from individual patients in terms of the general category (there were 16) of their disease and smoking status (smoker, nonsmoker, former smoker) indicated significant differences due to disease status and smoking status. The highest mean AT levels were associated with infectious, respiratory, and neoplastic diseases. Smokers had significantly higher mean levels than nonsmokers, and lung cancer patients had significantly higher mean levels than those with other malignant neoplasms. Among smokers (as a group) mean AT levels. through elevated relative to nonsmokers were not significantly related to duration or intensity of smoking; but former smokers showed a decline (with time following cessation of smoking) in their mean AT level to the mean level for nonsmokers. These findings provide further evidence of the sensitivity of serum antitrypsin activity to environmental influences.
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Rees et al. (1975) conducted an observational in Hospitalized with medical problems (n=1,829). Smoking vs. Nonsmokers was evaluated on Mean serum antitrypsin (AT) activity. Smoking was associated with significantly higher mean serum antitrypsin activity compared to nonsmokers, and hospitalized patients' levels exceeded blood bank donors by 51%.
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