Smoking cessation strategies in vascular surgery

Tobacco abuse is a highly prevalent modifiable risk factor in vascular surgery patient populations. Despite the known benefits of smoking cessation, quitting smoking is difficult for most patients. Physician advice to stop smoking can help, though more intensive or multifactorial interventions have greater impact. Smoking cessation initiatives based in vascular clinics are feasible, although currently there is significant variation in physician delivery of smoking cessation interventions. Vascular surgeons are optimally poised to be able to capitalize on the "teachable moment" of the vascular procedure to encourage smoking cessation. Concise and effective smoking cessation strategies include standardized physician "very brief advice" (a standardized advice delivery developed and validated by the National Health Service), referral to telephone counseling, and prescription of pharmacotherapy, all of which are best utilized together. This review will discuss different smoking cessation strategies, as well as their inclusion in multicenter trials designed to study delivery of smoking cessation interventions in vascular surgery patients.