Heart Disease Events Motivate Patients to Stop Smoking

Middle-age, few smoking years, receiving higher education, and experiencing an acute episode of ischemic heart disease are predictors of smoking cessation, according to a recent study.

Few previous studies have assessed potential predictors of smoking cessation in general populations.
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For their study, the researchers evaluated 4636 smokers born between 1945 and 1973 from 7 centers in Northern Europe. Participants had been administered a questionnaire during the 1999-2001 RHINE study and received a follow-up questionnaire between 2010 and 2012.

Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated via Cox regression analysis.

Overall, 2564 participants had answered the questionnaire and had provided complete data on their smoking habits. Results indicated that 999 (39%) participants had stopped smoking over the course of the study, with a smoking cessation rate of 44.9/1000 person-years.

The researchers found that increasing age, higher education, and fewer years of smoking were all associated with smoking cessation. Additionally, smokers who had been hospitalized for ischemic heart disease during the study were more likely to stop smoking (HR 3.75). However, asthma, wheeze, hay fever, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, and hypertension were not found to predict smoking cessation.

“Successful smoking cessation is common in middle-aged smokers, and is associated with few smoking years and higher education,” the researchers concluded. “A diagnosis of respiratory disease does not appear to motivate people to quit smoking, nor do known cardiovascular risk factors; however, an acute episode of ischemic heart disease encouraged smoking cessation in our study population.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Holm M, Schiöler L, Andersson E, et al. Predictors of smoking cessation: A longitudinal study in a large cohort of smokers. Respir Med. 2017;132:164-169.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2017.10.013.