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Smoking is a well-known risk factor for coronary artery disease; however, many people who try to quit fail to achieve complete abstinence. Investigators in Israel evaluated the impact of smoking cessation or reduction on long-term mortality in 1581 consecutive patients aged ≤65 (mean age, 54; 19% women) who were hospitalized for a first acute MI between 1992 and 1993 and were followed through 2005. Compared with nonsmokers, participants who were smokers at baseline were younger, more likely to be male, and less likely to have hypertension or diabetes or to engage in leisure-time physical activity.
During a median follow-up of 13.2 years, 427 patients died; of these, 123 had never smoked, 70 were former smokers, and 234 were current smokers, …