Smoking increases the risks of complications after surgery such as wound infections. Tobacco treatment is effective in helping surgical patients quit smoking. This systematic review found that tobacco treatment is highly cost effective in reducing the increased costs caused by smoking-related postoperative complications. Thus, healthcare systems can save money, and improve their patients’ outcomes, by investing the modest amount needed to provide tobacco treatment services to their surgical patients.
Review outlines how anesthesiologists can help fight the tobacco pandemic
[Anesthesiology, October 2022] Tobacco use is among the deadliest pandemics in human history, projected to kill one billion people in the 21st century. Anesthesiologists and others who care for surgical patients can play a vital role in fighting this pandemic, as surgery is an ideal time for smokers to quit. This review tells the story of the pandemic and how you can help.
Higher rates of surgical site infection (SSI) found in current smokers, decreased rates of SSI with short-term tobacco abstinence
[JAMA Surgery, February 2017] This study reveals that current smoking is associated with more frequent surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing elective surgery and that smokers who abstain from smoking on the day of surgery are less likely to develop SSI. In effect, just as clinicians routinely request that patients consume nothing by mouth on the day of surgery, they should also recommend that patients abstain from smoking on the morning of surgery if they are not willing to make a more prolonged preoperative quit attempt.