Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2019 May 31;2019(5):omz027.
doi: 10.1093/omcr/omz027. eCollection 2019 May.

Water pipe smoking as a cause of secondary erythrocytosis

Nora Rebeka Javorniczky  1   2 , Cornelius F Waller  1   2 , Heike L Pahl  1   2 , Nikolas von Bubnoff  1   2   3 , Heiko Becker  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Water pipe smoking as a cause of secondary erythrocytosis

Nora Rebeka Javorniczky et al. Oxf Med Case Reports. .

Abstract

Water pipe (WP) smoking has become very popular in European countries. A 27-year-old male patient was referred to our clinic with erythrocytosis of unknown origin. His self-reported history included almost daily WP smoking since the age of 14 years. At presentation haemoglobin, haematocrit (Hct) and carboxy-haemoglobin (CO-Hb) levels were elevated to 19.7 g/dl, 54% and 15.4%, respectively. Erythrocytosis was completely reversible upon cessation of WP smoking. Upon follow-up, haemoglobin, Hct and CO-Hb levels undulated according to the intensity of WP usage. Our report shall raise awareness among physicians for WP smoking as a possible cause of secondary erythrocytosis, particularly among younger adults, and provide guidance for the clinical management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hb and CO-Hb over-time depending on the WP smoking habit. WP smoking intensity is indicated in the figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Maziak W. The global epidemic of waterpipe smoking. Addict Behav 2011;36:1–5. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.030. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agaku IT, Filippidis FT, Vardavas CI, Odukoya OO, Awopegba AJ, Ayo-Yusuf OA, et al. Poly-tobacco use among adults in 44 countries during 2008–2012: evidence for an integrative and comprehensive approach in tobacco control. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;139:60–70. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.03.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shihadeh A. Investigation of mainstream smoke aerosol of the argileh water pipe. Food Chem Toxicol 2003;41:143–152. - PubMed
    1. Miri-Moghaddam E, Mirzaei R, Arab MR, Kaikha S. The effects of water pipe smoking on hematological parameters in rats. Int J Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Res. 2014;8:37–43. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Keohane C, McMullin MF, Harrison C. The diagnosis and management of erythrocytosis. BMJ. 2013;347:f6667 10.1136/bmj.f6667. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types