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 .
Stopping smoking and long-term mortality after acute myocardial infarction.
A prospect i ve follow-up study was carried out to investigate the relation between smoking and risk of death after an acute myocardial infa rct ion . The study consisted of male patients under the age of 65 years , who had had an acute myocardial infa rct ion between 1972 and 1975 in North Karelia , Finl and . Of these patients , 888 survived the first six months after the acute infa rct ion and were followed-up for three years after the infa rct ion with regard to their deaths . The cumulative all-causes mortality rate of the patients who were still smoking six months after the acute myocardial infa rct ion was 1.7 times that of the patients who had stopped smoking within the first six months . There was a dose-response relation between the number of cigarettes smoked daily and the mortality . The impact of smoking was greatest in the subgroups of patients with an otherwise good prognosis . We estimated that 28 per cent of the deaths in the whole group of initial smokers was attributable to continuing smoking after the infa rct ion . On the basis of these findings we suggest that the anti-smoking advice should be an important part of the modern comprehensive care of patients with an acute myocardial infa rct ion
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 .