Background: It is very well established that tobacco smoking is one of the risk factors for various diseases like stroke, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and various types of cancers. Alterations in haematological parameters may be one of the causes for these diseases.

Aim: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between tobacco smoking and haematological parameters like haemoglobin levels and levels of white blood cells.

Materials and Methods: The study recruited a total of 60 adult men of whom 30 were chronic smokers and the other 30 were non-smokers. Blood sample drawn from each of these subjects was assessed for the following parameters: Haemoglobin (Hb) levels, total leucocyte count (TLC), differential count (DC) of neutrophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes and monocytes. The smoking status was confirmed by measuring serum cotinine levels of the subjects.

Statistical analysis: The values were compared between smokers and non-smokers using unpaired student’s t test.

Results: There was a statistically significant increase in Hb levels (15.42±1.24 vs 14.40 ±1.10), DC of eosinophils (6.781±5.02 vs 4.47±3.64) and absolute eosinophil
count (519.06±217.25 vs 346.56±104.42) among smokers when compared to non-smokers. Also increase in TLC, DC of neutrophils and decrease in DC of lymphocytes and monocytes were found which were statistically not significant.

Conclusion: Hence it can be concluded that tobacco smoking leads to alterations in haematological parameters and may be responsible for development of certain diseases and smoking cessation programmes should be integrated with basic health care system.

Keywords: Tobacco Smoking; Haemoglobib (Hb); White Blood Cells (WBCs).