BACKGROUND: Questions remain about the importance of smoking and smoking cessation after incident @entity583 . OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between smoking status and risk for recurrent coronary events. DESIGN: Retrospective, population-based, inception cohort study. SETTING: Health maintenance organization from 1986 to 1996. @entity1 : 2619 @entity1 who survived to hospital discharge after a first @entity583 . MEASUREMENTS: Relative risk (RR), assessed by using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, for recurrent coronary events in nonsmokers ( @entity1 with no history of smoking), former smokers ( @entity1 who had stopped smoking before @entity1188 ), quitters ( @entity1 who stopped smoking after @entity1188 ), and active smokers ( @entity1 who continued smoking after @entity1188 ). RESULTS: At the time of incident @entity1188 , 33.6% of @entity1 were nonsmokers, 35.5% were former smokers, and 30.9% were active smokers. Of the 808 @entity1 who were active smokers at the time of incident @entity1188 , 449 quit smoking during hospitalization or after discharge. With nonsmokers as the reference group, the multivariable RR for recurrent coronary events (n = 433) was 1.17 (95% CI, 0.93 to 1.43) for former smokers and 1.51 (CI, 1.10 to 2.07) for active smokers. Among quitters, the RR decreased as duration of cessation increased: With nonsmokers as the reference group, the RR for quitters was 1.62 (CI, 1.02 to 2.61) if the duration of cessation was 0 to less than 6 months, 1.60 (CI, 0.97 to 2.60) if the duration was 6 to less than 18 months, 1.48 (CI, 0.76 to 2.51) if the duration was 18 to less than 36 months, and 1.02 (CI, 0.54 to 1.86) if the duration was 36 months or more (P = 0.01 for trend). CONCLUSION: After incident @entity583 , smoking was associated with an elevated risk for recurrent coronary events. In @entity1 who quit smoking after @entity1188 , the risk declined to equal that of nonsmokers by 3 years after cessation.

Smoking status and risk for recurrent coronary events after XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'PATIENTS', 'persons'] @entity583 :: ('MESH:D009203', 'Disease') :: ['myocardial infarction'] @entity1188 :: ('MESH:D007238', 'Disease') :: ['infarction']
@entity583 :: (MESH:D009203,Disease) :: ['myocardial infarction']
