Medical Diagnoses

Promoting smoking cessation in those with medical diagnoses can help decrease disease symptoms and increase overall health.

Concerns
Quitting smoking reduces the risk of repeat heart attacks and death from heart disease by 50 percent or more.¹, ²

Smoking cessation is important in the medical management of many contributors to heart attack, including:²
• Atherosclerosis (fatty buildups in arteries)
• Thrombosis (blood clots)
• Coronary artery spasm
• Cardiac arrhythmia (heart rhythm problems)

Wagner et al. (2006) found that medically ill smokers:³
• Experience more relapses and higher temptation to smoke.
• May have more difficulty staying smoke free than their healthy counterparts.

Smoking cessation is important to improve health outcomes for:
• Cancer
• Heart Disease
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Other Medical Illness

Coronary Heart Disease and Stress:⁴
• Cigarette smoking and psychological stress are both risk factors for Coronary Heart Disease.
• Stressors may increase smoking, which increases disease risk.
• Smoking may increase exposure to stressors by increasing the smoker's endurance to stress.
• Smoking and stress together may increase cardiovascular reactivity.

Interventions with Medically Ill Children, Adolescents and Adults:
• Cigarette smoking is particularly risky for people of all ages with chronic illness. This behavior can cause disease- and treatment-related complications.
• Colby et al. (1998) found support for Brief Motivational Interviewing techniques in hospital settings with adolescent smokers.⁵
• Rosal et al. (2003) suggest in-hospital outpatient follow-up interventions, delivered for at least 6 months following a cardiac event.¹

Preventing Smoking Relapse through stress management:⁴
• Avoid critical components of stressors.
• Modify stressors to lessen their impact.
• Use alternative coping methods to replace smoking.
• Directly modify the association between stressors and smoking with behavioral techniques.

¹ Rosal, M.C., Ockern, J.K., Yunsheng, M., Hebert, J.R., Ockene, I.S., Merriam, P., Hurley, T.G. (1998). Coronary Artery Smoking Intervention Study (CASIS): 5-Year Follow-Up. Health Psychology, 17, 476-478.

² 1990 Surgeon General's Report, The Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation.

³ Wagner, J., Heapy, A. Frantsve, L., Abbott, G., Burg, M.M. (2006). Transtheoretical model constructs in smokers with and without medical illness: A second look at the medical effect. Addictive Behaviors, 31, 1283-1289.

⁴ Epstein, L.H. & Perkins, K.A. (1988). Smoking, Stress, and Coronary Heart Disease. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 342-349.

5 Colby, S.M., Monti, P.M., Barnett, N.P., Rohsenow, D.J., Weissman, K., Spirito, A., Woolard, R.H., Lewander, W.J. (1998). Brief Motivational Interviewing in a Hospital Setting for Adolescent Smoking: A Preliminary Study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 574-578.