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 .
The relationship of smoking cessation to coronary heart disease and lung cancer in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT).
The impact of smoking cessation on coronary heart disease ( CHD ) and lung cancer was assessed after 10.5 years of follow-up in the 12,866 men in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial ( MRFIT ) . Those men who died of lung cancer ( n = 119 ) were either cigarette smokers at entry or ex-smokers ; no lung cancer deaths occurred among the 1,859 men who reported never smoking cigarettes . The risk of lung cancer for smokers , adjusted for selected baseline variables using a Cox proportional hazards model , increased as the number of cigarettes smoked increased ( B = 0.0203 , SE = 0.0076 ) . There was not the same grade d response for CHD among smokers at entry . The risk of CHD death was greater among smokers than nonsmokers ( RR = 1.57 ) ( B = -0.0034 , S.E. = 0.0048 ) . After one year of cessation , the relative risk of dying of CHD for the quitters as compared to non-quitters ( RR = 0.63 ) was significantly lower even after adjusting for baseline differences and changes in other risk factors . The relative risk for smokers who quit for at least the first three years of the trial was even lower compared to non-quitters ( RR = 0.38 ) . However , the relative risk for lung cancer for quitters versus non-quitters was close to 1 both for quitters at 12 months and at three years . These data support the benefits of cessation in relation to CHD and are consistent with other epidemiologic studies which suggest that the lag time for a beneficial effect of smoking cessation on lung cancer may be as long as 20 years
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 .