Cardiovascular effects of smoking

Abstract

Cigarette smoking has hazardous effects on cardiovascular health and represents a worldwide great concern that demands further attention. We conducted a systematic review using PubMed database of the literature concerning cardiovascular effects of cigarette smoking reported in meta-analyses published in the last 10 years. 12 studies determined a significant association between cigarette smoking and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, 6 of them demonstrated a substantial decline in the morbimortality after tobacco control policies were implemented. There is a need for the governments and the health care providers to strengthen their actions in order to reduce the prevalence of tobacco smoking and protect the general population from smoking attributable diseases, affecting multiple organs and systems and generating patients with multiple comorbidities.