Effects of smoking habit change on all-cause mortality and cardiovascular diseases among patients with newly diagnosed diabetes in Korea

This study aimed to investigate the effects of smoking habit change on the risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among patients with newly diagnosed diabetes using the Korean National Sample Cohort data. Survival regression analyses for the risks of all-cause mortality and CVDs were performed. Quitters without body mass index (BMI) change (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.46–1.00) and quitters with BMI loss (aHR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.13–2.73) showed significantly reduced and substantially the increased risk of all-cause mortality, respectively, compared with sustained smokers. Smoking reduction after diabetes diagnosis may have potential positive effects. However, definite benefits on the health outcomes were not identified in this study. Participants who started smoking after diabetes diagnosis had higher risks of all-cause mortality and CVDs than those who were never smokers or ex-smokers, although not statistically significant. In conclusion, smoking cessation after diabetes diagnosis could reduce the risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events among patients with newly diagnosed diabetes when accompanied by proper weight management. Therefore, physicians should advice patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes on the importance of smoking cessation in combination with long-term weight management to maximize the benefits of smoking cessation.