It has been suggested that smoking protects against the development of deep vein thrombosis following myocardial infarction, although large studies on the effects of smoking have generally failed to show any association with venous thromboembolic disease.In a preliminary survey of patients attending an anticoagulant clinic, fewer male smokers, and more female smokers than expected, were attending after a deep vein thrombosis. Further analysis of these results, suggested that they were due, at least in part, to factors other than smoking, and a larger study was undertaken to compare the incidence of smoking in patients who had had a deep vein thrombosis, with that in the hospital outpatient population as a whole. No differences in smoking habits were found “between these groups, but small differences were observed between various groups of patients with venous thromboembolism, e.g. myocardial infarction was listed as a predisposing cause, more often than expected in male non-smokers.Thus, while smoking may effect the development of deep vein thrombosis in particular situations, e.g. after myocardial infarction, this study has failed to show any significant influence on venous thrombosis in general.
Studies on the Effects of Smoking on Vmous Thromboembolic Disease
