Smoking contribution to the global burden of metabolic disorder: A cluster analysis

Introduction and objectives Smoking is associated with various health risks, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In this retrospective cohort study, we aimed to determine whether smoking is harmful to the whole metabolic system. Methods We collected data from 340 randomly selected participants who were divided into three groups: smokers (n=137), non-smokers (n=134), and ex-smokers (n=69). We obtained information on participants’ body mass index, waist circumference, indicators of glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, bone metabolism, and uric acid from health screen data during the past three years. A cluster analysis was used to synthesize each participant's overall metabolic characteristics. Results According to the cluster analysis, the 340 participants were divided into three groups: excellent metabolizers (137, 40.3%), adverse metabolizers (32, 9.4%), and intermediate metabolizers (171, 50.3%). The Chi-squared test analysis shows that people with different smoking statuses have different metabolic patterns. Non-smokers had the highest proportion of excellent metabolizers (56%), and current smokers had the highest proportion of adverse metabolizers (15.3%). The proportion of adverse metabolizers (5.8%) in the ex-smoker group was clinically relevantly lower than that of current smokers. Conclusion The statistically significant differences in the distribution of smokers into different metabolic clusters indicate that smoking has adverse effects on the whole metabolic system of the human body, which further increases the existing global burden of metabolic disorders.