Myocardial infarction: improved survival in younger smokers? A misconception!

Although several studies have shown that tobacco paradoxically improve the clinical course of patients after myocardial infarction, this is not the conclusion of an international study published in the journal "American Journal of Cardiology," suggesting that n is not the smoking that proves "protector" for survival, but age and lack of comorbidities.
"When smokers suffer a myocardial infarction at a relatively young age, they face the same risk as older non-smoking stroke, reinfarction and death."

In the words of Dr. Hans Jakob Joatun the University of Bergen (Norway), lead author of the study, and his colleagues, the paradox of smoking has generated much debate, but ultimately, "this is the age younger at the onset of the cardiac event and the fact that there are fewer comorbidities (associated diseases) that explain better survival after a heart attack. "

To confirm this data, researchers followed for nearly three years 5,475 patients considered at high risk of cardiovascular complications, who actually had a myocardial infarction.

Patients revealed a history of smoking showed a reduced risk of death by 17% compared to non-smokers. But after adjusting for age, this difference disappeared. "In fact, although the difference was not statistically significant after adjustment for age, smoking showed a risk of death after myocardial infarction finally increased by 6%," say the authors.

According to them, their findings are in line with two other European studies refuting the validity of the paradox of smoking. "A subject of controversy, however, still ...," they conclude.