Prevalence and Trends in Smoking Among Surgical Patients in Michigan, 2012-2019

Key Points Question What is the prevalence of and what clinical and demographic characteristics are associated with smoking in a large population of patients undergoing surgery? Findings In this cross-sectional study of 328 578 patients undergoing general and vascular surgical procedures from 2012 to 2019 in Michigan, nearly 1 in 4 patients smoked cigarettes at the time of surgery. Despite decreasing over the study period, in 2019 the adjusted prevalence of smoking was 22.3% among all patients, 43.0% among patients with Medicaid, and 36.3% among patients without insurance. Meaning These findings indicate that smoking cessation interventions may be particularly important for patients undergoing surgery, especially for patients who lack health insurance or have Medicaid.