Relation of smoking status to a panel of inflammatory markers: The Framingham offspring

As opposed to never smokers, those with acute cigarette smoke exposure (≤6 h) had significantly higher concentrations of all markers (p < 0.0001) except serum CD40L, MPO, and TNFR2; plasma CD40L were significantly lower. Compared with never smokers, cigarette smokers have significantly elevated concentrations of most circulating inflammatory markers, consistent with the hypothesis that smoking is associated with a systemic inflammatory state.