[Factors Associated With Successful Smoking Cessation in Male Patients With Coronary Artery Disease at 3 Months After Hospital Discharge].

BACKGROUND

The promising effects of smoking cessation for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients include decreased risks of subsequent clinical events and mortality. However, most CAD patients continue to smoke after being hospitalized for a cardiac event.

PURPOSE

To explore the factors that are associated with successful smoking cessation in CAD male patients at 3 months after hospital discharge.

METHODS

A correlational design was applied. A convenience sample (N = 165) was recruited from the cardiac wards of two medical centers in northern Taiwan and 154 of these completed the 3-month follow up. The medical charts of the participants were reviewed to obtain their disease-related factors. All of the participants finished one questionnaire during their hospital stay. This questionnaire collected data on participant demographics, smoking and quitting history, and nicotine addiction as well as the causal attribution of heart disease to smoking, importance of smoking outcomes, self-efficacy for quitting, and post-discharge intention to quit. Information on post-discharge smoking status was collected via phone calls to the participants at three-months after hospital discharge and, for participants who claimed to have not smoked since discharge, was further confirmed by measuring their expired CO (carbon monoxide) level. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the identified predictors of successful smoking cessation.

RESULTS

The 3-month self-reported rate of abstinence was 37.01% (n = 57), while the rate of abstinence as confirmed by expired CO was 31.17% (n = 48). Those with acute coronary syndrome, longer hospital stays, and higher post-discharge intention to quit were more likely to quit smoking.

CONCLUSIONS / IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The abstinence rate as confirmed by expired CO for hospitalized male patients with CAD is more accurate than the rate obtained by self-reporting. Healthcare providers should stress the importance of smoking cessation, especially for those who have been diagnosed with angina, are hospitalized for shorter periods of time, and indicate a lower post-discharge intention to abstinence.