Heart Health

Former smoker

Smoking? Former

Recommendationsmoking-formerNo one has reached this rule yet

Stay stopped — the risk keeps falling for years

Clinical review

All reviewers

No clinician has signed off this rule yet. It reflects our reading of the guidelines cited below, which has not been independently checked.

What someone who reaches this rule is told

Word for word, as generated for the example person below. Figures in the text are theirs.

  • Keep doing this

    Staying quit is one of the most valuable things you've already done for your heart.

    Cardiovascular risk after quitting falls steeply in the first year and keeps declining for years afterward. Nothing to act on here — just worth not undoing.

    Outcome-provenTested in randomised trials measuring heart attacks, strokes, or death, not a stand-in for them.· checked 2026-09-12

    US Preventive Services Task Force — tobacco cessation interventions · Maintain

An example person who reaches it

Former smoker” — an illustrative profile, not a real user.

47-year-old manBP 124/78LDL 120former smoker10-yr PREVENT-ASCVD 1.6%

Their path through prevention essentials

  1. Known cardiovascular disease?No
  2. On a statin, or is one indicated?Yes
  3. Has Lp(a) ever been measured?No
  4. Smoking?Former ← this rule

Sources

Cited by the recommendations above.

Review this rule

For practising clinicians. Endorse it, propose a change, or dispute it. We verify every reviewer before a review is shown, and a review stays attached to the version of the rule you saw — if the rule changes, the page says so. You'll be asked to declare any relevant interests; they're shown with your review.

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Runs in lib/engine/preventionEssentials.ts as smoking-former.