[Smoking cessation in coronary patients].

Smoking is one of the main risk factors for coronary artery disease and its complications, including sudden death. In smokers, smoking cessation is associated with improved 5-year outcome. Consequently, smoking cessation should be one of the main goals of the clinician in patients hospitalized for a coronary event. Any health professional has the capacity to deliver a simple message: "do you smoke?" and "are you willing to quit?". Such simple questions have a positive impact on the smoker who knows he has coronary artery disease. In addition nicotine substitutes and bupropion are particularly useful to help the patient: their efficacy has been demonstrated in several well-conducted studies. Last, treating tobacco smoking requires long-term follow-up of the patient who will be asked to consult regularly to this purpose.