Smoking is linked to heart attacks. Quitting may help prevent another heart attack.
Smoking increases your risk for developing blood clots and heart disease that can
result in a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.
Why this is important:
Smoking causes your arteries
to thicken and your blood vessels to narrow. Fat and plaque stick to the walls of
your arteries, which makes it harder for blood to flow. Reduced blood flow to your
heart may result in chest pain, high blood pressure, and an increased heart rate.
Smoking is also linked to lung disease and cancer and can cause premature death.
It is important that you receive information to help you quit smoking before you leave
the hospital. Quitting may help prevent another heart attack. The chart above shows the percentage of heart attack patients that were given smoking cessation counseling before, or when, they were discharged from the hospital.