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Most Smokers Fail to Quit after Heart Attacks
Fewer than half of cigarette smokers quit after experiencing a first cardiac event, according to a survey of Europeans. One in five continue to light up despite personal advice from their doctor to stop smoking, the survey shows.
Researchers interviewed 5,551 heart patients in 47 hospitals in 15 European countries more than one year after the event or condition that landed them in the hospital, namely heart bypass surgery, balloon angioplasty (for clogged arteries), a heart attack, or a type of worsening chest pain called unstable angina.
The interviewers asked participants whether they had smoked in the 30 days prior to being admitted to the hospital and whether they currently smoked. Those who denied smoking took a breath test for carbon monoxide to verify the information. Researchers report that nearly one quarter (21 percent) of the 5,551 survey subjects were still smoking after their cardiac event. Virtually all (99 percent) of the 2,244 individuals who smoked before the heart event had been advised by their doctor to stop, but only 48 percent actually stopped.
Smokers younger than age 50 were less likely to quit than older smokers. Those with angina (chest pain) were also less likely to give up smoking than were those who had suffered a heart attack. This latter finding is worrisome because it hints that chest pain patients may not be aware that they are at heightened risk of suffering a heart attack. Clinically, the long-term risk of death in chest pain patients is comparable to that of heart attack patients.
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