Ghada Radwan

Citation:

El-Setouhy, M., C. A. Loffredo, G. Radwan, R. A. Rahman, E. Mahfouz, E. Israel, M. K. Mohamed, and S. B. A. Ayyad, Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, , 2008.

Abstract:

Waterpipe smoking is popular in many parts of the world. Micronuclei (MN) evaluation in the exfoliated
oral cells of smokers is a non-invasive technique for evaluation of possible tobacco harm. We aimed to
assess whether MN levels are higher in waterpipe smokers than in never smokers. We examined oral
smears of 128 adult male waterpipe smokers and 78 males who never smoked tobacco in rural Egypt. The
total number of MN per 1000 cells per subject, and the number of MN-containing cells per individual were
compared. We observed a higher level of total MN in waterpipe smokers (10±4) than in never smokers
(4±2,p< 0.001). A similar difference was found for the mean number of affected cells per individual
(8±3 vs. 4±1.62,p< 0.001). MN levels were not significantly dose related. This study is among the first
to assess the association between waterpipe smoking and a cytogenetic measure of tobacco harm. The
twofold increase in MN level is consistent with previous reports of MN in cigarette smokers. More research
is needed to determine if such MN levels are predictive of future health consequences