REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Quitting smoking is associated with a substantial reduction in risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CHD .
This 36 % risk reduction appears substantial compared with other secondary preventive therapies such as cholesterol lowering which have received greater attention in recent years .
The risk reduction associated with quitting smoking seems consistent regardless of differences between the studies in terms of index cardiac events , age , sex , country , and time period .
BACKGROUND Although the importance of smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease is beyond doubt , the speed and magnitude of risk reduction when a smoker with coronary heart disease quits are still subjects of debate .
OBJECTIVES To estimate the magnitude of risk reduction when a patient with CHD stops smoking .
Impact of Smoking on Health-Related Quality of Life After Percutaneous Coronary Revascularization
Background PTCA is performed primarily to improve health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease . In patients undergoing PTCA , smoking has been shown to increase risks of late myocardial infa rct ion and death . Whether smoking also affects HRQOL after PTCA is currently unknown . Methods and Results We examined the relation between smoking status and HRQOL among 1432 patients who underwent PTCA as part of 2 multicenter clinical trials . HRQOL was assessed with the use of the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 question naire . Patients were classified as smokers ( n=301 ) , quitters ( n=141 ) , or nonsmokers ( n=990 ) on the basis of their smoking status at the time of their index procedure and during the first year of follow-up . For the overall population , HRQOL improved significantly after PTCA for all scales except general health perception , with improvements ranging from 5.5 points for mental health to 23.2 points for role-physical functioning . After adjustment for baseline characteristics and initial HRQOL , nonsmokers had gains at 6 months that were larger than those of smokers for all health domains : physical function ( 15.4 versus 10.4 points ) , role-physical ( 24.5 versus 13.9 ) , pain ( 18.4 versus 13.3 ) , general health perception ( 1.7 versus −4.5 ) , vitality ( 11.0 versus 4.7 ) , social function ( 12.8 versus 3.5 ) , role-emotional ( 13.5 versus 6.7 ) , and mental health ( 6.8 versus 0.8;P < 0.02 for all comparisons ) . Quitters had 6-month HRQOL improvements that were greater than those in smokers for all domains as well . Findings were similar at 1 year . Conclusions Quality -of-life benefits of PTCA are diminished by continued smoking . Efforts to promote smoking cessation at the time of PTCA may substantially improve the health outcomes of these procedures
REVIEW ER 'S CONCLUSIONS Quitting smoking is associated with a substantial reduction in risk of all-cause mortality among patients with CHD .
This 36 % risk reduction appears substantial compared with other secondary preventive therapies such as cholesterol lowering which have received greater attention in recent years .
The risk reduction associated with quitting smoking seems consistent regardless of differences between the studies in terms of index cardiac events , age , sex , country , and time period .
BACKGROUND Although the importance of smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease is beyond doubt , the speed and magnitude of risk reduction when a smoker with coronary heart disease quits are still subjects of debate .
OBJECTIVES To estimate the magnitude of risk reduction when a patient with CHD stops smoking .