No acute effect of cigarette smoking on bleeding time of habitual smokers

To study the influence of cigarette smoking on blood platelet function, bleeding time was measured in two groups of 14 habitual smokers before and after a 20-minute period during which the subjects either smoked two cigarettes (experimental group) or rested (control group). The second bleeding time appeared to be slightly shortened upon cigarette-smoking (−0.1 min) and was found to be prolonged in the control group (+0.4 min). These changes did not differ significantly from each other (P = 0.38). Consequently, bleeding time of habitual smokers is not affected by smoking two cigarettes.