den Berg MJ, et al. - Using participants from the SMART (Second Manifestations of ARTerial disease)-cohort, researchers quantified the risk of recurrent cardiovascular (CV) events (major atherosclerotic cardiovascular events including stroke, MI and vascular mortality) and mortality in relation to smoking cessation following a first CV event in 4,673 patients aged 61 ± 8.7 years. They used Cox models for the quantification of the aforementioned link. A substantial lower risk of recurrent vascular events and all-cause mortality was observed in relation to smoking discontinuation following a first CV event, regardless of age at first CV event. Smoking cessation is recommended to be considered as a key objective for patients with vascular disease because it lowers CV risk more effectively than any pharmaceutical therapy of major risk factors.