Smokers benefit from quitting for the two months before surgery, according to a new report.
You're usually advised not to smoke for several weeks before an operation, because tobacco smoke has a bad effect on both the cardiovascular and immune systems and this delays recovery.

Smokers benefit from quitting for the two months before surgery, according to a new report.
You're usually advised not to smoke for several weeks before an operation, because tobacco smoke has a bad effect on both the cardiovascular and immune systems and this delays recovery.

Now researchers in Copenhagen, Denmark, have shown big differences in the outcome for people who did, and did not, give up smoking before hip and knee replacement.

One hundred and twenty patients who were daily smokers were assigned six to eight weeks before the operation to either a control or an intervention group. Those in the latter group received counselling and nicotine replacement - and this resulted in either complete cessation or dramatic reduction in smoking.

After the operation, the complication rate was 18 per cent in the intervention group, and 52 per cent among the controls. The most striking difference was in wound infection - five per cent in the intervention group, 31 per cent in the controls. None of those in the intervention group suffered cardiovascular complications, compared to ten per cent of controls. And those who'd had the smoking cessation intervention stayed two days less in hospital. The researchers suggest that similar smoking intervention given to patients a month or so before an operation could lead to significant health benefits.

Source

Lancet January 12 2002