"Asian Cigarette" is an Adverse Prognostic Factor in Peripheral Arterial Disease

IN parts of South East Asia physicians believe that the strong, inexpensive locally made cigarettes are a risk factor in the development of peripheral arterial disease. Thus, in Ceylon the young men who smoke Beedi cigarettes are said to be particularly prone to occlusive diseases of the small arteries 1 . A study of the Buerger syndrome in Korea revealed that the patients smoked a coarse form of locally grown tobacco 2 . In other parts of Asia where the Buerger syndrome has been described the disease predominates in the lowest socio-economic groups (N. K. Yong, personal communication, and refs 3 and 4). Presumably, these poor people smoke the locally grown and locally manufactured cigarettes most often since they are the cheapest available.