Future Studies:
There was not a clear trend exhibited by our study between how smoking affects stress levels, but there are many other studies that show that smoking does clearly impact IgA levels in humans. One study conducted at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute documented many effects that smoking had on the immune system showed that exposure to smoke decreases production of all the immunoglobulins including IgA (McAllister-Sistilli, Caggiula, Knopf, Rose, Miller, & Donny, 1998). This finding contradicts our results and could be the more favorable outcome being that smoke decreases immune function, which is not directly linked to stress. Further studies could be arranged to take into account the long-term effects of smoking and how it affects stress levels associated with IgA as well as impairing immunological functions outside of the realm of stress.
- Many variables affect IgA levels
- Survey to consider what level of smoker an individual is
- Nicotine effects on IgA
There was not a clear trend exhibited by our study between how smoking affects stress levels, but there are many other studies that show that smoking does clearly impact IgA levels in humans. One study conducted at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute documented many effects that smoking had on the immune system showed that exposure to smoke decreases production of all the immunoglobulins including IgA (McAllister-Sistilli, Caggiula, Knopf, Rose, Miller, & Donny, 1998). This finding contradicts our results and could be the more favorable outcome being that smoke decreases immune function, which is not directly linked to stress. Further studies could be arranged to take into account the long-term effects of smoking and how it affects stress levels associated with IgA as well as impairing immunological functions outside of the realm of stress.