Tabagisme et monoxyde de carbone

Among 2,069 patients subjected to pulmonary function tests, 20% were smokers with a mean oxyhemoglobin (HbCO) level of 5.2%. Similar values for HbCO (2.4%) were found in non-smokers and ex-smokers. A positive correlation was observed between daily tobacco consumption and HbCO level, i.e. HbCO = 0.123 (g/day) + 3.433. For a similar consumption (16 g/day), smokers who inhaled the smoke had a significantly higher level of HbCO than smokers who did not (5.8 vs. 4.7%). The interval separating the time when the last cigarette was smoked from HbCO measurement is of utmost importance: for a similar tobacco consumption (10 g/day) HbCO ranged from 6.5 ± 0.5% when the interval was 1 h to 4.6 ± 0 > .3% when it was 3 h (p