Hello! I am Liu Jian
Today is the 597th issue of Jian Ge Said to accompany you
According to statistics, in 2018, the smoking rate of people over 15 years old in mainland China was 26.6%, of which the smoking rate of men was 50.5%, and the total number of smokers exceeded 300 million [1], of which there were many heart disease patients.
As a doctor, I will advise people with heart disease to quit smoking, but many patients think that quitting smoking is not important, are unwilling to quit smoking, and feel that they can't quit. This is not true.
Quitting smoking is important
Statistics have found that as many as a million people lose their lives to tobacco on the mainland each year, and if effective action is not taken, this data is expected to increase to 2 million per year in 2030 and to 3 million per year in 2050[1].
The harm of smoking to health is not only in the lungs, increasing the risk of bronchial asthma, small airway dysfunction, venous thromboembolism, sleep apnea, pneumoconiosis, but also increasing the risk of acute leukemia, nasopharyngeal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and other cancers, but also can cause atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In general, smoking affects the health of multiple systems of the body and increases the risk of multiple diseases.
For ordinary people, smoking has so many harms, and for heart disease patients, it is even more so, so staying away from tobacco is a protection of health.
There are benefits to quitting smoking
People with heart disease are reluctant to quit smoking, in part because they don't see the benefits of quitting. They feel that they have suffered from heart disease, and quitting smoking will not help prevent the disease. This is not the case!
The benefits of quitting smoking in heart patients may be far greater than you or I can imagine!
An observational study of more than a thousand heart patients found that about half of people who developed myocardial infarction before the age of 50 were smokers. If you quit smoking within one year of your first myocardial infarction, the risk of dying from heart disease or other causes of death is about 70 percent lower during a median follow-up period of up to 11 years than those who still smoke [2].
Recently, another study predicted through mathematical models that the smoking cessation effect in heart disease patients is comparable to the combination of three drugs (lipid-lowering drugs Bempedoic acid and PCSK9 inhibitors, anti-inflammatory colchicine), which is expected to extend the healthy life expectancy of heart disease patients by about 5 years, that is, to postpone myocardial infarction or stroke by 5 years. The study included 989 patients aged 45 years and older with an average age of 60 years, including 23 percent, who had had a myocardial infarction six months or earlier, or who had undergone cardiac stenting or bypass surgery [3]. The researchers note that half of smokers' preventable risk of death is attributable to tobacco, while the other half is attributed to cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, smoking cessation remains the cornerstone of preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and whether it is already sick or not, it can improve the health of patients.
Quitting smoking is not difficult
In fact, it is never too late to quit smoking, and the sooner you quit smoking, the greater the benefits. Recognize the importance of quitting smoking, build confidence to quit smoking, be prepared to quit smoking, and quit smoking completely at once.
First of all, eliminate the situation that induces smoking, such as discarding tobacco, ashtrays, lighters, etc., and avoid participating in smoking places or activities that you are accustomed to going to.
Second, be prepared to fight addiction, such as doing exercise plans, chewing sugar-free gum, eating some fruit or walking after meals, and firmly believing that smoking addiction will always pass.
Finally, strengthen the belief in quitting smoking, write down the reasons for quitting smoking, warn yourself, such as for health, for your family, etc.; set a date to quit smoking, and no longer smoke from that day; tell friends that you have quit smoking, hoping to get everyone's help and supervision.
If you have difficulty quitting smoking on your own, you can also ask your doctor for help.
Brother Jian said
Smoking not only affects lung health, but also increases the risk of cancer and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Smoking cessation in patients with heart disease also benefits, which can delay the onset of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events and improve the survival rate of patients.
Quitting smoking is not difficult, the key lies in yourself, suffering from heart disease, like walking on a cliff, and quitting smoking can make you farther away from the edge of the cliff.
Today's content is finished, and the next issue is more exciting.
Heart health knowledge is in "Jian Ge Says Heart"
We'll see you next time.
"On the Heart" - Medicine, Health and Lifestyle of the Heart
Works by Professor Liu Jian