Morphologic changes in the microcirculation induced by chronic smoking habit: a videocapillaroscopic study on the human labial mucosa

Cigarette smoking has been identified as a major risk factor for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Although an impressive literature does exist on the subject, no evidence is available on morphologic changes induced with chronic smoking habit in the human microcirculation. One hundred healthy subjects, 50 smokers and 50 nonsmokers, underwent videocapillaroscopy of the labial mucosa. For each subject, the caliber of capillary loops, the number of visible capillary loops, the background optical transmittance, the tortuousness of capillary loops, the presence of microaneurysms, the presence of microhemorrhages, and the cumulative smoking habit (pack-year index) were noted. Smokers had a lower caliber of capillary loops (P