Smoking Stroke Survivors at Greater Risk of Recurrence of Attacks

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States. In America someone has a stroke about every 40 seconds.

According to a new study by a team of researchers from Melbourne, Australia, stroke survivors who smoke put themselves at a greater risk of additional strokes, heart attack or death than those who never smoked.

For the study the researchers analyzed 1,589 patients who experienced a first or recurrent stroke in 1996-99. These participants were tracked for 10 years. This was done with the help of medical records and in-person and telephone interviews. They also tracked the demographics, deaths, recurrent strokes and heart attacks.

On comparing them with the one who never smoked, the researchers noticed that, those who smoked when they had a stroke were 30 percent more likely to have a poor outcome. Among those who survived the first 28 days after stroke, current smokers had a 42 percent higher risk of poorer outcomes. Ex-smokers had an 18 percent higher risk of poorer outcomes.

And on comparing to the past smokers, they noticed that those who survived the first 28 days after stroke, current smokers had a 23 percent higher risk of poorer outcomes during the 10 years.

"This research provides fresh incentive to quit smoking now or never start because it shows smokers fare far worse after strokes than non-smokers," said Amanda Thrift, Ph.D., the study's lead researcher and professor of epidemiology for the Department of Medicine in the Southern Clinical School at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

"We also found smoking had its greatest impact on younger patients," Thrift said. "The people who smoked in our study were younger, more often male, and more often from a disadvantaged background. Although we want everyone to give up smoking, targeting this group could yield greater benefits with fewer dollars spent."

The study was based on people who were victims of common type of stroke 'ischemic stroke' that is caused by blood clot. The study never linked smoking to poorer long-term outcomes for patients whose stroke was caused by bleeding within the brain, possibly due to a small sample size.

Prior to this the studies conducted had a smaller sample size and were less comprehensive they have provided inconsistent results on smoking's role on long term outcomes after stoke.

The new research was published in the American Heart Association's Journal Stroke.