Mucociliary clearance and its relation with the level of physical activity in daily life in healthy smokers and nonsmokers [Transporte mucociliar e sua relação com o nível de atividade física na vida diária em fumadores saudáveis e não fumadores]

Objectives: to investigate the relationship between mucociliary transport and physical activity in daily life (padl) in smokers and nonsmokers. methods: fifty-two current smokers were submitted to assessment of mucociliary transport (sacharin transit time,stt),carbon monoxide levels in the exhaled air,lung function and smoking history. in addition,subjects kept a pedometer worn at the waist for six days in order to determine their level of padl (steps/day). the tests were also performed on 30 matched healthy nonsmokers who served as control group. results: light smokers (≤15 cigarettes/day) had a stt of 9 (7-11) min (median [confidence interval]),which was similar to nonsmokers (8 [8-11]min; p = 0.8). both moderate (16-25 cigarettes/day) and heavy (>25 cigarettes/day) smokers had significantly higher stt (13 [11-17] min and 13 [10-21] min,respectively) than nonsmokers and light smokers (p < 0.05 for all). there was no difference in the number of steps/day between any of the groups (p > 0.05 for all). in the general group of smokers,stt was not significantly correlated with padl,pack/years index,years of smoking or age (r < -0.23; p > 0.09 for all). there was significant negative correlation between stt and padl only in light smokers (r = -0.55; p = 0.02) and nonsmokers (r = -0.42; p = 0.02),but not in moderate and heavy smokers. conclusion: in light smokers and non-smokers,better mucociliary function is associated to higher daily physical activity level,as opposed to the decreased mucociliary function observed in smokers,i.e.,those with moderate and heavy cigarette consumption. © 2011 sociedade portuguesa de pneumologia.