ABSTRACT
Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for perioperative morbidity, including pulmonary, cardiovascular, and wound-related complications (Warner, 2006). Preoperative abstinence from cigarettes can reduce these
benefit is in most instances unknown (Warner, 2005a). Recent data suggest that the scheduling of surgery can also represent a teachable moment for smoking cessation (Warner, 2005b), involving events that motivate
I 0 individuals to adopt health behaviors that reduce risk (McBride, Emmons, & Lipkus, 2003). Patients undergoing surgery spontaneously quit smoking at rates higher than the general population, especially those undergoing more extensive surgery for diseases clearly
15 related to smoking (Rigotti, McKool, & Shiffman, 1994). It is possible that clinicians who provide perioperative care could exploit this teachable moment to provide tobacco use interventions that could further increase the rate of postoperative abstinence, with ben-
20 efit not only to immediate postoperative outcomes, but also to long-term health (Warner, 2005c).
