Quitting smokeless tobacco after heart attack may extend life expectancy

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/aha-qst061814.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Jun-2014
Contact: Bridgette McNeill
American Heart Association
Quitting smokeless tobacco after heart attack may extend life expectancy

American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report

People who stop using smokeless tobacco after a heart attack may extend their life expectancy similar to people who stop smoking, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

"We didn't expect to see such a strong association among those people who stopped using (smokeless tobacco)," said Gabriel Arefalk, M.D., lead researcher and cardiologist at Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden. "After a heart attack, no doubt smoking cessation reduces the risk of death approximately one third and is really a cornerstone of cardiac rehabilitation worldwide. For smokeless tobacco, we did not know."

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