De Rokersparadox
Hoewel de kans op een hartaanval volgens de huidige medici voor rokers hoger is, is de kans op genezing daarvan voor rokers weer groter dan voor niet-rokers. Ook zijn er minder complicaties bij rokers.
Dit was al langer bekend, maar nieuw onderzoek toont nu aan dat hetzelfde ook het geval is voor de oudere rokers, boven de 75 jaar.
The apparently “protective” effect of smoking in heart attack patients was highlighted in a study confirming smoker’s paradox among older patients, released at an international cardiology conference.
Cardiologist Hector Bueno, of the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon in Madrid, told the European Society of Cardiology congress in Vienna that in the past the paradox had been attributed to smokers being likely to experience heart attack at a younger age than non-smokers.
To see if the paradox also applied in an older age group, Dr Bueno studied 677 patients aged 75 and over who had been admitted to hospital with their first heart attack between 1988-1997.
He found that smokers tended to arrive at hospital earlier after a heart attack than non-smokers and while in hospital showed a lower incidence of complications.
Meanwhile, smokers were less likely to die in hospital after a heart attack, with 22 per cent of smokers dying compared to 33 per cent of non-smokers.
In a statistical analysis, smokers had a massive 75 per cent better chance of surviving heart attack than non-smokers, the study showed.
