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Smoking after a stroke more than doubles risk of death within one year
– Reported, August 29, 2012
Smokers who have a stroke and continue to smoke afterward may increase their risk of dying within one year by as much as five times compared to those who quit.
Italian researchers at San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome led a study of 921 regular smokers who did not smoke while hospitalized for an ischemic stroke. More than one-third of the patients were women, and their average age was 67. They all received brief smoking cessation counselling in hospital. The researchers followed the patients for one year, noting which ones resumed smoking after their stroke and which ones remained smoke-free. Eighty-nine patients died during the followup period.
More than half of the patients (53.5 per cent) resumed smoking after discharge from hospital. The median time it took to start smoking again was three weeks. The researchers found that older patients and women were significantly more likely to resume smoking after a stroke. Those who attended hospital-based rehabilitation programs were significantly less likely to start smoking again.
The results also showed that smoking after a stroke was linked to an increased risk of dying within one year: those who resumed smoking within the year had 2.6 times the risk of dying compared to those who quit, even after considering other health factors. The findings also indicated that the sooner a patient resumed smoking after discharge, the higher the associated risk of death. Those who resumed smoking within 10 days had more than five times the risk of death compared to those who quit.
The research was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany on Aug. 28, 2012.
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