Smoking cessation 'significantly' improves future heart health

06 February 2010

A new study has confirmed that giving up smoking leads to significant improvements in a person's health following a heart attack.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University analysed data on more than 1,500 patients, all of whom were 65 or under and had been hospitalised between 1992 and 1993 after an acute myocardial infarction.

Of these, 27 per cent had never smoked, 20 per cent had previously smoked and the remainder were still smoking at the time of their heart attack.

After discharge, 35 per cent of current smokers succeeded in quitting and the researchers found that these patients were much less likely to die during the next 13 years than those who continued to smoke.

This trend held true regardless of an individual's blood pressure, weight and exercise levels.

Compared with those who continued to smoke, patients who quit after their heart attack were 37 per cent less likely to die, while those who had given up prior to their heart attack had a 50 per cent lower mortality rate.

Dr Yariv Gerber, from the university's Sackler School of Medicine, commented: "It's really the most broad and eye-opening study of its kind. Smoking really decreases your life expectancy after a heart attack."

The scientist, whose findings are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, observed that heart disease places an "enormous" burden on countries' healthcare systems and claimed that the impact of smoking on heart attacks and cardiac mortality is "much more significant than its impact on lung cancer".

"The effect of smoking on heart health is actually a much bigger public health threat and most people are not aware of this," he added.

Dr Gerber urged people who feel unable to quit to consider cutting down the number of cigarettes they smoke, as the study found that even this could have an effect on a person's risk of cardiac mortality - although not of the same magnitude as quitting altogether.

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