Evaluation of Haematological Parameters among Cigarette Smokers who Drink local Gin in Ogba/ Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government area of Rivers State

Cigarette and cannabis smoking and drinking local gin are closely associated with people of different age groups. This study focused on the haematological evaluation of the effect of local gin consumption alongside cigarette and cannabis smoking on haematological parameters in residents of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government of Rivers State. One hundred and eighty subjects were recruited for this study and the age bracket was between 22 – 65 years. Thirty of the subjects served as the control, thirty other subjects were drinkers of local gin alone, thirty other subjects were smokers of the mainly donchester brand of cigarette and cannabis popularly called “igboo” and the remaining ninety subjects were drinkers of local gin who also smokes cigarette and cannabis. The subjects 4ml of blood was withdrawn into EDTA specimen container for full blood count assay after obtaining consent from the subjects. BC-2800 Auto Haematology Analyzer was used for the assay for FBC while Westergren method was used for erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR). Statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21 was used for analysis for mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and correlation. The results showed that mean cell volume (MCV), Packed cell volume (PCV), White blood cell (WBC), Red blood cell (RBC), and neutrophil were significantly higher in local gin drinkers who also smoke cigarette P<0.05 compared with control. Conversely, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, platelet, heaemoglobin, mean cell haemoglobin, mean cell haemoglobin concentration, monocytes, lymphocytes were not significant when compared with the control. The results showed that neutrophil increased significantly with P-value of 0.16 and F=1.89, Mean cell volume increased significantly with P-value 0.23, Red blood cell increased significantly with P-value 0.34, White blood cell increased significantly with P-value 0.20 and PCV increased significantly with a P-value of 0.55. The correlation of the parameters that showed increased significance among the subjects showed MCV =0.54 among local gin drinkers who smoke and local gin drinkers alone, but the RBC = -0.67 among cigarette smokers who drink local gin and only smokers alone, correlation among local gin consumers only and cigarette smokers alone showed MCV=0.131, WBC= 1.45 and PCV = 0.45. Therefore, this study suggests that a significant increase in neutrophil, RBC, MCV, WBC and PCV may be due to frequent consumption of local gin and frequent smoking of cannabis and cigarette. Drinkers of local gin and smokers of cigarette and cannabis in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area should be informed of the implications of this social habit in their haematological parameters.