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The Berlin-Bremen Study

James H. Dwyer, PhD; Gudrun E. Rieger-Ndakorerwa, MD; Norbert K. Semmer, PhD; Reinhard Fuchs, DipPsy; Peter Lippert, MD

JAMA. 1988;259(19):2857-2862.

Abstract
The current study was conducted to determine if smokers and nonsmokers differ in serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) before smoking initiation and if a decline in HDL-C levels could be detected among adolescents during the first two years of smoking. Changes in HDL-C levels and smoking were observed longitudinally in 1983, 1984, and 1985 among 691 seventh and eighth graders (age range, 12 to 14 years) from two German cities; 82% were nonsmokers at baseline. For these baseline nonsmokers, no differences in baseline HDL-C concentrations were found between those who became smokers and those who remained nonsmokers. In contrast, those who became light (one to 39 cigarettes per week) or moderate (40 cigarettes per week) smokers by one or two years after the initial examination evidenced lower mean HDL-C concentrations relative to persistent nonsmokers at follow-up, constituting a decrement of –0.016 mmol/L [SE=.035] (–0.6 mg/dL) [SE=1.4] for light smokers and –0.114 mmol/L [SE=.064] (–4.4 mg/dL) [SE=2.5] for moderate smokers. These findings suggest that short-term exposure to cigarette smoke at low levels may have atherogenic consequences.

(JAMA 1988;259:2857-2862)

Author Affiliations
From the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Pasadena (Dr Dwyer); State Health Administration, Hamburg, West Germany (Drs Rieger-Ndakorerwa and Lippert); University of Bern (Switzerland) (Dr Semmer); and Department of Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin (West) (Mr Fuchs).

Footnotes
Read before the annual meeting of the Epidemiology Council of the American Heart Association, San Francisco, March 23,1986.

Reprint requests to Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, 35 N Lake Ave, Suite 200, Pasadena, CA91101 (Dr Dwyer).

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