Abstract
Smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) diseases. Stopping smoking reduces the CV risk by about a half: it is the most effective intervention in cardiology.
Most adult smokers would prefer not to smoke, but unfortunately mostly they fail - tobacco dependence is a chronic, relapsing disease. During their lives, most smokers have dozens of quit attempts, the average age of quitting cigarettes is about forty.
But many of them will never get rid of this addiction. Those who cannot or do not want to stop use nicotine with the support of effective treatment would reduce their CV and overall risk by taking nicotine at least without the few thousand chemicals contained in the tobacco smoke.