[Effectiveness of smoking cessation intervention in patients with cardiovascular disease].
OBJECTIVE
The incidence of coronary events descends in patients with cardiac disease who quit smoking. Only around 50% of the patients who quit smoking after an acute event remain abstinent three months after hospital discharge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a tobacco dishabituation program in patients with cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
We studied a cohort of smokers who started a smoking cessation program between September 1993 and June 1999. We compared 348 patients with cardiovascular disease with 1.107 smokers without disease. A twelve-month protocolized follow-up was performed, measuring carbon monoxide for evaluating relapse on every control. We calculated the abstinence in each period and estimated the odds ratio for relapse at twelve months.


RESULTS
We observed a global continued abstinence at twelve months of 37.1% (129/348) in the patients with cardiovascular disease and of 39.6% (438/1.107) in the patients without disease. The consonant smokers (precontemplatives) showed a greater number of relapses, with an adjusted Odds ratio of 1.36.


CONCLUSIONS
Exhaustive treatment and follow-up achieved a percentage of great abstinence in the cardiovascular patients of our study who were unable to quit smoking during hospitalisation or after diagnosis. We therefore suggest that these patients may benefit from inclusion in smoking cessation units.
Morchón
S
S
Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Ciutat Sanitaria i Universitaria de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Blasco
J A
JA
Rovira
A
A
Arias
C N
CN
Ramón
J M
JM
D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013030:Spain