Temporary Perioperative Tobacco Cessation: A Literature Review

Perioperative tobacco cessation decreases rates of surgical complications associated with the use of tobacco. The link between patient outcomes and reimbursement to health care providers and systems is another important motivating factor supporting temporary pre- and postoperative tobacco cessation to improve surgical patient outcomes. The optimal time frame for tobacco cessation to improve surgical outcomes has not been definitively established. We examined the literature from June 1989 to July 2017 regarding various tobacco cessation time frames for perioperative patients, searching MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), the Cochrane Collaboration, and various online-only journals accessed through Google Scholar. We reviewed evidence from 15 studies that report wide variability in recommended time frames (eg, four to six months) for perioperative tobacco cessation.