For heart patients, intensive smoking cessation therapy may do the trick

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Intensive smoking cessation therapy helps patients with heart disease quit with a good success rate.
Continuing to smoke is a huge risk for anyone who has been hospitalized for heart disease. What kind of support can help them quit? According to a new study from Creighton University Cardiac Center, Omaha, Nebraska, the intensive approach seems to work well. A group of 209 patients hospitalized for unstable angina, heart attack or severe heart disease, was assigned to either usual care or intensive smoking cessation therapy.

All patients received 30 minutes of counseling prior to hospital discharge, plus self-help materials. Those in the intensive therapy group received a minimum of 12 weeks behavior modification counseling, plus individualized anti-smoking medication. The smoking cessation therapy was continued on discharge from hospital. After two years of follow up, 39 per cent of those in the intensive smoking cessation therapy group were still abstaining from tobacco, compared to only nine per cent in the usual care group. Their risk of hospitalization was also cut by half. Those in the usual care group had four times the death rate compared to those in the intensive smoking cessation therapy group. Therefore, smoking cessation support for patients with heart disease is well worth the investment in time and money.

Source
CHEST February 2007

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