‘Doctors must encourage heart patients to stop smoking or risk punishment for clinical malpractice’

Chair of the World Heart Federation Tobacco Expert Group, Dr. Eduardo Bianco, warns that physicians who fail to offer cessation services to smokers who present with heart disease could be considered as involving in clinical malpractice or negligence.

Bianco also urged cardiology societies to train their members in smoking cessation, as well as to promote and even drive tobacco control advocacy efforts.

This was contained in a release made available to PUNCH HealthWise on Tuesday by the World Health Organisation.

The release contained a new brief by the trio of World Health Organisation, World Heart Federation and the University of Newcastle in Australia.

It showed that 1.9 million people die from tobacco-induced heart disease every year.

The report’s authors noted that this equates to one in five of all deaths from heart disease.

The authors, however, urged all tobacco users to quit and avoid a heart attack, stressing that smokers are more likely to experience acute cardiovascular event at a younger age than non-smokers.

The report noted that if tobacco users take immediate action and quit, then their risk of heart disease will decrease by 50 percent after one year of not smoking.

“Given the current level of evidence on tobacco and cardiovascular health and the health benefits of quitting smoking, failing to offer cessation services to patients with heart disease could be considered clinical malpractice or negligence.

“Cardiology societies should train their members in smoking cessation, as well as to promote and even drive tobacco control advocacy efforts,” Chair of the World Heart Federation Tobacco Expert Group, Dr. Eduardo Bianco said.

The brief also shows that smokeless tobacco is responsible for around 200,000 deaths from coronary heart disease per year, while e-cigarettes also raise blood pressure.

It also added that high blood pressure and heart disease increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

Unit Lead of the WHO No Tobacco Unit, Dr. Vinayak Prasad said, “Governments have a responsibility to protect the health of their people and help reverse the tobacco epidemic.

“Making our communities smoke-free reduces the number of tobacco-related hospital admissions, which is more important than ever in the context of the current pandemic.”

The world health body said tobacco control is a key element for reducing heart disease.

“Governments can help tobacco users quit by increasing tax on tobacco products, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and offering services to help people give up tobacco,” it said.