Smoking cessation after hospitalization for myocardial infarction or cardiac surgery: Assessing patient interest, confidence, and physician prescribing practices

Abstract

Background: Prioritizing and managing multiple behavior changes following a cardiac hospitalization can be difficult, particularly among smokers who must also overcome a serious addiction.

Hypothesis: Hospitalized smokers will report a strong interest in smoking cessation (SC) but will receive little assistance from their physicians.

Methods: We asked current smokers hospitalized for an acute cardiac event to prioritize their health behavior priorities, and inquired about their attitude toward SC therapies. We also assessed SC cessation prescriptions provided by their physicians.

Results: Of the 105 patients approached, 81 (77%) completed the survey. Of these, 72.5% ranked SC as their greatest health change priority, surpassing all other behavior changes, including: taking medications, attending cardiac rehabilitation (CR), dieting, losing weight, and attending doctor appointments. Patients felt that SCM (44%), CR (41%), and starting exercise (35%) would increase their likelihood for SC. While most patients agreed that smoking was harmful, 16% strongly disagreed that smoking was related to their hospitalization. At discharge, medication was prescribed to ~32% of patients, with equal frequency among patients who reported interest and those who reported no interest in using medications.

Conclusion: The majority of hospitalized smokers with cardiac disease want to quit smoking, desire help in doing so, and overwhelmingly rate cessation as their highest health behavior priority, although some believe smoking is unrelated to their disease. The period following an acute cardiac event appears to be a time of great receptivity to SC interventions; however, rates of providing tailored, evidence-based interventions are disappointingly low.