Smoking risk following heart attack differs by gender, study finds

The deleterious impact of smoking on hospitalization following a high-risk myocardial infarction is particularly strong in women. Smoking was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization and mortality, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women's Health.

Trygve Hall, MD, Ph.D., from Oslo University Hospital, and coauthors representing the High-Risk Myocardial Infarction Database Initiative investigators conducted a meta-analysis of high-risk myocardial infarction (MI) patients who had experienced an MI complicated with left ventricular dysfunction or overt heart failure. Smoking status was significantly more associated with all-cause hospitalizations in women than in men, resulting in a significant interaction between smoking and sex.

"Similar to smokers more often experiencing hospitalizations after a high-risk MI, we observed that smoking significantly increased risk of death when assessing risk of mortality in the overall study sample," stated the investigators. "However, in contrast to hospitalizations, we found no interaction for sex when assessing the risk for mortality."

"The greater impact of smoking on hospitalizations in women experiencing high-risk MI should serve to intensify preventive strategies in this population," says Journal of Women's Health Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA.