Very low rate of early use of prescription smoking cessation medications among older patients after heart attack
The immediate period after a myocardial infarction (MI; heart attack) represents a unique window of opportunity to encourage patients to quit smoking. Using data (from between April 2007 and December 2013) from a large MI registry, Neha J. Pagidipati, M.D., M.P.H., of Duke University, Durham, N.C., an d colleagues examined patient factors associated with early prescription smoking cessation medication (SCM) use (defined as filling of a prescription within 90 days postdischarge or supply remaining from a pre-admission fill). Prescription SCMs included in the study were bupropion and varenicline. Among the 9,193 smoking patients (median age, 70 years) with MI in this analysis, 97 percent received smoking cessation counseling during their hospitalization, yet only 7 percent had early-prescription SCM use (bupropion, 47 percent; varenicline, 53 percent). Varenicline use dropped from 12.6 percent in 2007 to 2.2 percent in 2013; bupropion use stayed consistently low (2.5 percent in 2...