Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(1):50-53 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3670

Smokers with Intracranial Aneurysms Who Underwent Neurosurgical or Endovascular Treatment Have Not Stopped Smoking One Year after Surgery

Kamila Zvolská^1,2, Eva Králíková^1,2, Vladimír Beneš³, Jana Koblihová⁴, Jiří Rameš¹, David Netuka³

¹ Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic

² 3rd Department of Medicine - Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic

³ Department of Neurosurgery, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and Central Military Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

⁴ Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Military Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

Smoking increases the risk of forming, growing, and rupture of intracranial aneurysms. We retrospectively reviewed patients with intracranial aneurysms treated by neurosurgical or endovascular treatment - 154 patients (45 men, 109 women, 15 to 62 years, average 46.3 years, CI±1.72). We found 74% (114/154) of smokers - 80% (36/45) men and 71.6% (78/109) women, with the mean value of the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence 4.4 (CI±0.40). The average age of smoking initiation was 18.2 years (CI±0.66), the average period of smoking 26.8 years (CI±2.13). The average number of cigarettes consumed daily was 18.2 (CI±1.58). With statistical significance p<0.05, the athero-index was lower in non-smokers than smokers: 3.4 (CI±0.56) vs. 4.5 (CI±0.51). HDL cholesterol was higher in non-smokers than smokers: 1.6 mmol/l (CI±0.25) vs. 1.4 (CI±0.10), and triglycerides were higher in smokers than non-smokers: 1.3 mmol/l (CI±0.16) vs. 1.9 (CI±0.35). Forty-two per cent of smokers (48/114) were controlled one year after the treatment; 18.8% of them stopped smoking, 41.7% reduced smoking, and 39.6% continued to smoke as extensively as before. The prevalence of smoking in our sample was higher than in the Czech population (28.2%). Only 18.8% of controlled smokers were able to quit one year after the intervention.

Keywords: smoking, smoking cessation, intracranial aneurysm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence

Received: February 22, 2011; Revised: June 30, 2011; Accepted: June 30, 2011; Published: March 1, 2012  Show citation