Table 3.

Pharmacological approach to smoking cessation in patients with CV disease

	Outpatients with chronic stable CV disease	Inpatients with acute CV disease (i.e. myocardial infarction)
First choice	Varenicline or combination NRT (i.e. patch + gum)	During hospitalization: single NRT (patch) or combination NRT (i.e. patch + gum) At discharge: combination NRT or Vareniclinea
Second choice	Bupropion SR or single NRT	At discharge: single NRT
Third choice	Other molecules (i.e. SSRI)	Bupropion SRb
If single therapy is not sufficient to obtain smoking cessation	Varenicline + single NRT Varenicline + bupropion SR Bupropion SR + single NRT	No available data

CV cardiovascular, NRT nicotine replacement therapy, SR sustained-release, SSRI selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

^aVarenicline administration could be started during hospitalization. It is suggested to continue administering NRT (slow or fast release) for 1 week during titration of varenicline

^bThere is neither evidence of efficacy nor particular safety concern regarding starting bupropion during hospitalization