Cigarette smoking is associated with dose-related and potentially reversible impairment of endothelium-dependent arterial dilation in asymptomatic young adults, consistent with endothelial dysfunction.

Loss of endothelium-dependent dilation in the systemic arteries occurs in the preclinical phase of vascular disease and is associated with interaction of the same risk factors known to predispose to atherosclerosis and its complications in later life.

No abstract