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The effectiveness of pre‐operative advice to stop smoking: a prospective controlled trial
Author(s) -
Munday I. T.,
Desai P. M.,
Marshall C. A.,
Jones R. M.,
Phillips M.L.,
Rosen M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1993.tb07600.x
Subject(s) - medicine , abstinence , prospective cohort study , smoking cessation , emergency medicine , smoke , nicotine , adverse effect , quit smoking , surgery , psychiatry , physics , pathology , meteorology
Summary Patients who smoke cigarettes suffer increased postoperative morbidity. A prospective, controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of written pre‐operative advice to stop smoking before admission for elective surgery and to record the duration of abstinence immediately before the operation. Although the advice was ineffective in persuading patients to stop smoking, it was associated with a reduction in the amount of tobacco consumed. Nicotine and carbon monoxide have important short‐term adverse effects but 15% of all patients continued to smoke within an hour of surgery. If patients are unable to give up cigarette smoking completely, it is still worthwhile stopping on admission to hospital.