Abstract

Introduction: The possible hepatotoxic effect of cigarette smoking in HBV patients has been proposed by epidemiological and experimental studies, therefore we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of smoking and it's correlated factors in Iranian asymptomatic HBV carriers. Material and methods: in a cross-sectional study, we included 1116 asymptomatic HBV carriers from patients admitted to the hepatitis clinic of the Tehran Blood Transfusion Organization between 2002 and 2006. Demographic data, health history including cigarette smoking (> 100 cigarettes per lifetime) and para-clinical information were registered. Results: The prevalence of smoking in asymptornatic carriers of HBV was 13.5. The mean smoking index in asymptomatic carriers of HBV was 29.0 +/- 20.6 pack-years (for 151 smoker patients). Frequency of cigarette smoking was higher in men than women (16.3 vs. 4.3, p < 0.05) and in married subjects than singles (15.7 vs. 7.6, p=0.003). The mean age of smokers was significantly higher than nonsmokers (43 +/- 10 vs. 40 +/- 12, p=0.001). Self-reported ethanol consumption was more common in smokers than non-smokers (44.2 vs. 11, p < 0.05). Relative risk for developing fatty liver in smokers was 1.79 (95 Cl: 1.16-2.75). Developing fatty liver was correlated with a higher smoking index (32.1 +/- 20.9 vs. 27.8 +/- 19.6 pack-years). Conclusions: Although this study suffers from some limitations such as assessing smoking by a questionnaire rather than plasma nicotine or urinary nicotine levels, we recommend specific smoking cessation strategies for hepatitis patients. We also suggest smoker HBV carriers be monitored more closely for developing fatty liver disease.