Complications of Tobacco Smoking
Surgery and anesthesia are associated with exacerbating the body’s stress response, which can lead to several postoperative complications and an increased hospital stay. As a future anesthesia provider, I know that is it is imperative that patients abstain from tobacco use prior to anesthesia or any surgical procedure. Preoperative screening of patients awards an opportunity to educate patients on the intraoperative risks associated with smoking as well as provide resources and interventions that can aid with compliance and abstinence. Although cigarette smoking has declined over the past decade, tobacco use remains a common recreational activity among Americans.
The 2018 National Health Interview Survey reported the 18.1% of adults in the United States smoke cigarettes. In general, smokers who use tobacco regularly are addicted to nicotine. They will continue to smoke despite knowing the negative health consequences. Most smokers would like to stop smoking, and each year, about 50% attempt to quit permanently. However, only about 6% of tobacco users succeed (NIDA, 2018). Surgical morbidity and mortality rates increase significantly in those that consume tobacco. Detrimental perioperative complications include poor wound healing, increased infection, delayed fracture healing and increased intraoperative bleeding. In order to combat this modifiable surgical risk factor, surgical patients should be educated and encouraged to abstain from tobacco use prior to any orthopedic procedure.
More specifically, McCunniff, Young, Ahmadinia, Ahn and Ahn (2015) suggested that surgical patients should be screened for nicotine in their system on the day of surgery to identify at risk individuals. Background The harmful effects of tobacco use have been confirmed in a multitude of orthopedic procedures, such as arthroplasty, hand surgery, spine surgery, fracture healing and foot surgery (Lampley et al., 2016). Tobacco has been attributed to altering vascular hemostasis and the normal clotting cascade, resulting in thromboembolisms. Research studies have also linked smoking to increased surgical blood loss in major orthopedic surgeries. Tobacco directly leads to alteration in the platelet membranes impairing their natural function (McCunniff et al.). A study conducted in 2012 after rotator cuff restoration showed that active smokers have an increased rate of comorbidities that would increase their risk of wound complications such as diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis compared to non-smokers (Kukkonen, Kauko, Virolainen & Aarimaa, 2012). This contributed to having a higher rate of wound complications postoperatively.
Current practice recommendations by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), state that surgical patients should abstain from smoking for four to eight weeks prior to anesthesia; this time frame allows the body to get rid of toxic substances and metabolites that affect the cardiac and circulatory system (ASA, 2018). Despite this recommendation, patients continue to smoke tobacco leading up to the day of surgery. Thomsen, Villebro and Merete Moller (2014), found that the adoption of smoking cessation methods such as transdermal patches, chewing gum, lozenges, inhalers, sprays, bupropion, and varenicline in the perioperative period should be recommended to patients who smoke prior to surgery. Perioperative smoking cessation seems to be an effective tool to reduce postoperative complications even if it is introduced as late as 4 weeks before surgery (Thomsen et al, 2014).