Benefits of stopping smoking

This article launches a special WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE effort to help prevent disease and disability. Erica Frank, MD, MPH, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor at the Emory University School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, will head the endeavor. The goals are to present scientific foundations for prevention and to provide practical ways to improve patients' lives. This first article addresses smoking cessation. We may think that we know it all, but we may not, and patients do not: about 25% of Americans smoke, and more than half of persons who ever smoked began their fatal habit before they were 18 years old. Side-stream smoke affects adults and children adversely, too, causing inflammation, infection, and cancer. Smokers need to stop smoking, and young people need to not start. Dr Frank's review is accompanied by a page for patients. It debunks myths and is designed to be duplicated so patients can leave their physician's office with a new lease on life in hand. Look for future prevention-oriented articles in this series that feature science and patient education.