Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and its Relation to Obesity, Gender and Smoking Status

Abstract

Objective: To study the packed cell volume correlation with body mass index and body fat percentage, differences in packed cell volume in both genders and between smokers & non-smokers in young adults and the frequency of smokers among students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on (112) healthy individuals, in December 2022. Age was between (18-23) years. A short informative history was taken by answering short questionnaire forms, anthropometric measures were taken to calculate body mass index and body fat percentage, and determination of packed cell volume by microhematocrit method. Results: Of (112), (59) were males and (53) were females, packed cell volume among the males was (47.45±3.409) and among females was (39.90±3.169) and the difference was statistically significant, the correlation of packed cell volume revealed direct significance with body mass index and statistically significant indirect (inverse) with body fat percentage. The prevalence rate of smoking was 13.4% and the level of packed cell volume among smokers (46.80±6.085) was significantly more (p = 0.015) than that among non-smokers (43.43±4.702). Conclusion: packed cell volume showed a significant direct correlation with body mass index and an inverse significant correlation with body fat percentage. The percentage of smokers was 13.4% among students, and the level of packed cell volume among young smokers was significantly higher than among non-smokers.