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Passive Smoking Has the Same Negative Effects on Reproductive Hormones in Adult Males as Active Smoking

Background: Smoking is an extremely lethal act and is associated with many illnesses. Lately, major concerns that passive smokers face the same health risks if not higher as active smokers have been raised. Some studies have shown that active smoking is associated with low levels of vitamins and testosterone. Are these facts also valid in passive smokers? Aim: The aim of this research was to estimate the levels of cotinine, testosterone, follicle stimulating (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin, vitamin E and catalase and compare these parameters in male active and passive smokers. Methods: Serum levels of cotinine, testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin and vitamin E and catalase were estimated in 60 cigarette smokers, 60 passive smokers and 60 nonsmokers recruited from Calabar metropolis. The hormones were assayed using ELISA and vitamin E using HPLC. Sociodemographic and anthropometric indices were obtained and data analyzed using PAWstatistic 18. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Cotinine levels were significantly ( P = 0.0001) higher in active smokers than in passive smokers and controls. Vitamin E and testosterone was significantly lower in active ( P = 0.003 and P = 0.0001) and passive smokers ( P = 0.0001 and P = 0.0001) when compared with nonsmokers. The mean catalase level of active smokers only was significantly ( P = 0.043) lower than that of the controls. The FSH of the active smokers were significantly higher ( P = 0.034) than those of the controls while the passive smokers had the highest LH values ( P = 0.0001). However, there were no significant variations in the prolactin levels among the three groups. About 3% of the active smokers had testosterone levels less than 3 ng/mL (hypogonadic) but none of the passive smokers or controls had testosterone levels less than 3 ng/mL. Conclusion: Passive and active smoking depletes vitamins E and lowers testosterone levels. This may be a contributing factor to male infertility both groups of smokers.