Avoid Tobacco Smoke - Preventing Stroke: Stroke

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Avoid tobacco smoke

The risk of stroke is twice as high for smokers as for nonsmokers. Smoking is an independent risk factor for stroke and it contributes to many of the other risk factors: It raises your blood pressure, reduces the level of beneficial HDL cholesterol, damages the protective lining of the blood vessels, and makes blood more prone to clot. The more you smoke, the greater your risk of stroke. In the Framingham Heart Study, men who smoked more than 40 cigarettes a day were twice as likely to have a stroke as were those who lit up fewer than 10 cigarettes a day. A similar pattern has been found in women. Exposure to other people's tobacco smoke also increases the risk of stroke.

Quitting smoking is one of the cornerstones of stroke prevention. In one British study, people who had smoked fewer than 20 cigarettes daily before quitting lowered their risk to the level of those who had never smoked. Although heavier smokers who quit did not eliminate their excess risk, they did decrease it. Results from both the Framingham Heart and Honolulu Heart studies confirm these findings. Switching from cigarettes to pipes or cigars doesn't reduce your risk at all.

Experts recommend a three-pronged approach to quitting smoking: Wear a nicotine patch or chew nicotine gum to help decrease the urge to smoke, join a support group or seek counseling, and learn techniques that will distract you from the thought of smoking.

Last updated:	September 05, 2008