The Effects of Smoking on the Cardiac Output at Rest and during Exercise in Patients with Healed Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

Smoking by subjects with healed myocardial infarction, in contrast to its effects on the normal subject, fails to provoke an increase in cardiac output or in stroke volume. On the other hand, smoking does increase the heart rate in subjects with healed myocardial infarction. This dissociation between the effect on heart rate and on cardiac output and stroke volume, which was also noted in the healthy subject pretreated with glucose, indicates that increase in heart rate is mediated by different factors than those that increase stroke volume and cardiac output.