The skin temperature, heart rate and finger-tip plethysmogram were measured in 5 medical students during and after smoking one cigarette, inhaled at three different depths, viz. deep inhalation, ordinary inhalation, and puffing.
Significant changes were observed during smoking in the decrease of finger skin temperature, the increase of heart rate, the shortening of crest time and propagation time, the reduction of volume change and the increase of dicrotic index compared with those during sham smoking. The shortening of crest time and propagation time, the increase of heart rate and the reduction of finger skin temperature were more marked in the subjects whose inhalation was deeper and the return of these parameters after smoking to their initial level were delayed according to the depth of the inhalation.
Therefore the vascular responses in cigarette smoking may be dependent on the depth of the smoker's inhalation.