History of Cancer CVD ( 2 ) Medication for Diabetes Mellitus Hypertension Dyslipidemia ( 3 ) Frequent change in smoking status before baseline examination 25 , 464 men

moking is still a major public health concern in Japan, as well as other Asian countries, where over 40–60% of men are smokers.1–6 Smoking increases mortality and the risk of ischemic heart disease by 1.4 to 3-fold.4,6–10 Conversely, cessation of smoking begins to reduce the risk of total cardiovascular disease (CVD) events within 2–4 years and that of all-cause mortality after 10–20 years.9,11–19 However, the effects of smoking and smoking cessation on individual health, especially depending on the duration and smoking status, are still not well enough known among Asians, and these effects may differ among the types of CVD event. In fact, a reduction in the incidence of stroke by smoking cessation was not observed in a meta-analysis of Asian populations.18 Because Asians such as Japanese and Chinese have a higher prevalence of smoking and a lower prevalence of obesity-related conditions compared with Caucasians,1,5,10,20,21 the effects of smoking and smoking cessation in Asians may be different from those in Caucasians, and should be investigated.