Researchers analyzed chest pain and quality of life measurements for 2,765 adults who underwent angioplasty — a non-surgical procedure that opens narrowed or blocked blood vessels that supply blood to the heart. One year after their procedures:
– People who quit smoking when they had angioplasty reported a much better quality of life than those who kept smoking.
– Twenty-one percent of people who quit smoking when they had angioplasty reported chest pain as compared with 31 percent who kept smoking.
– Nineteen percent of people who either never smoked or quit smoking before their angioplasty still had chest pain.
“It’s a no-brainer. Stopping smoking seems like a relatively easy way to increase your chances of getting the best outcomes from angioplasty”, said senior author and cardiologist John Spertus, M.D., M.P.H., Clinical Director of Outcomes Research at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO.
