Evaluating the effectiveness of the coronary care nurses’ role in smoking cessation

Abstract

In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the effects of cigarette smoking on health and in particular its correlation with coronary heart disease. It is estimated that smoking causes 110 000 premature deaths yearly (Doll and Peto, 1981). Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United Kingdom and in many developed countries, with Northern Ireland and Scotland having the highest death rate for this disease in the world. Approximately, one out of every four men under the age of 65 years die of coronary heart disease (OPCS, 1987). The effects of cigarette smoking on the circulatory system and in particular the correlation of smoking with the formation of atheroma in the coronary arteries has been well documented (Evans and Mathewson, 1986).