LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A real smoker’s paradox
David Shander, MDa
a Rose Medical Center, 4545 East 9th Avenue, Suite 150, Denver, Colorado 80220, USA
The article by van Domburg et al. (1) in the September issue of the Journal presented detailed but not unexpected findings with regard to the hazards of cigarette smoking. However, I wonder whether the authors are aware that in Figure 2 of their paper, there is a graph which implies that the survival rate of cigarette smokers who quit after their bypass operation is significantly better than those who continue to smoke, but also significantly better than those who have never smoked. One would have to conclude from this data that the best chances of survival are among those who smoke up until the time of their surgery and then quit, rather than never to smoke at all. This would truly be a smoker’s paradox if in fact it is correct!
I would appreciate some explanation from the authors.
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References
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1. van Domburg RT, Meeter K, van Berkel DFM, Veldkamp RF, van Herwerden LA, Bogers AJJC. Smoking cessation reduces mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery: a 20-year follow up study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2000;36:878–883[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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