Fingers take a beating from the cancer stick

Blood flow in smokers is more sluggish and
can predispose them to frostbite

By Tony Craig

As if heart disease and cancer weren't bad enough, tobacco, it now turns out, poses an extra threat specifically to Canadians � frostbite. Although the loss of fingers might deter the less dedicated puffers, it's probably not the best way to quit. So given the findings of this US study, smokers should take heed and make it quick when they pop out for a ciggy in the winter.

The research team from Yale University found that smoker's blood vessels don't expand fast enough to warm chilled fingers and toes. They believe nicotine slows the body's normal response to cold. The finding is perhaps not surprising in view of nicotine's known propensity to constrict blood vessels, but it's never been experimentally confirmed before.

Dr Kichang Lee and colleagues immersed the hands of smokers and non-smokers in water at 5°C for 40 minutes. The blood vessels of the smokers were slower and less effective at cold-induced vasodilation. The team's results were presented to a meeting of the American Physiological Society at a joint conference in Washington called Experimental Biology 2004.

Dr Lee told the conference it was more than just a transient effect brought on by the most recently smoked cigarette. He said the effect could still be measured 16 hours after the smokers had last butted out.

The finding will have particular resonance for smokers in cities like Toronto, where anti-smoking bylaws have forced smokers outside for a puff, often in arctic conditions. Even in more permissive cities like Montreal, every office building seems to have a gaggle of smokers clustered in the doorway.

Dr Lee suggests further research to see how disproportionately the burden of frostbite has fallen on smokers in recent years. However, smokers outside office buildings would presumably go back inside if they felt their fingers going numb, he acknowledged.

While most people would see Dr Lee's research as another reason to avoid smoking, smokers' rights groups predictably put a different spin on the story. Canada's smokers' rights movement has essentially withered away in recent years. But Simon Clark, director of a British smoker's rights group, said of the findings: "If it's true, and I suspect that the risk is statistically insignificant, it will be interesting to see whether smokers have a case against governments and local authorities who ban smoking in enclosed public places. After all, if they are putting smokers at risk by forcing them to stand outside in the freezing cold they may have to suffer the consequences."