Effect of smoking on age at the time of coronary artery bypass graft surgery; baseline data results from the ROSETTA-CABG registry

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death. The aetiology of this disease is not known, but many important risk factors have been recognised. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of smoking on age at the time of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), and to examine this finding in the light of medical literature. METHODS: The authors recruited patients immediately after CABG in a prospective, study in 16 centres and enrolled 408 patients, of which 395 were ultimately analysed. RESULTS: Among the 395 patients analysed, there were 60 smokers and 335 non-smokers. The smokers were 8.4 years younger than non-smokers at the time of index CABG. The average age of smokers was 55.79.0 years, and that of non-smokers was 64.1±9.9 years (p<0.001). Hyperlipidaemia was present in 76.7% of smokers and 74.6% of non-smokers (p-NS). Hypertension was present in 58.3% of smokers and 63.9% of non-smokers (p-NS). Diabetes mellitus was present in 21.3% of smokers and 29.3% of non smokers (p-NS). Left ventricular ejection fraction was 53.0±10.5% in smokers and 53.3 ±13.8% in non-smokers (p-NS). Myocardial infarction had occurred in 41.7% of smokers and 35.5% of non-smokers (p-NS). CONCLUSION: Smoking accelerates atherosclerosis and coronary thrombosis resulting in severe form of CAD that cannot be managed by medications or PCI, and requires coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) 8.4 years earlier than non-smokers.