Smoking cessation with in-patients (including pre-op) : Carole Furlong

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Smoking cessation with in-patients (including pre-op)
Carole Furlong

Abstract
In addition to the evidence that smoking increases the risk of ill-health and death, there is also evidence that smoking reduces the benefits from treatment. This presentation will review the evidence showing that, after surgery, compared to ex-smokers and non-smokers, smokers are more likely to:

have pulmonary, circulatory, and infectious complications
and impaired wound healing;

have reduced bone fusion;

to be admitted to an intensive care unit;

have increased risk of in-hospital mortality; and

because of these increased risks, smokers are also
more likely to remain in hospital for longer.

The presentation will then focus on the effects of smoking cessation prior to hospital admission on post-operative complications and in length of stay. The evidence on the effectiveness of pre-admission and in-patient smoking cessation programmes will be reviewed.

Finally, (pre-publication) results of a project to estimate the health gain from preadmission smoking cessation in London PCTs and acute hospitals will be presented.

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Biography
Carole Furlong is a Public Health Specialist currently working for Hounslow PCT and the London Health Observatory.
After graduating, Carole worked in pathology for seven years. Looking for a new challenge, she moved into Public Health in 1992 as screening coordinator and has since held posts as Health Development Manager, Public Health Manager and Head of Health Intelligence. At LHO, she is working on developing
a model to estimate short term health gain from smoking cessation prior to surgery. Her literature review on the
subject can be accessed via the LHO website (http://www.lho.org.uk/HIL/Lifestyle_and_Behaviour/Smoking.htm).

Carole Furlong
Public Health Specialist, Hounslow PCT
cfurlong@lho.org.uk

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