Nicorette Gum and Heart problems

[Tamy-OMaley]

  Dear Dr.
         My father recently died of a heart attack. He was healthy as far as we knew. He took his vitamins everyday and quit smoking 10 years ago. The problem is that he chewed nicorette gum since it was first introduced. That has been at least five years ago. They tell you to chew it no more than a year, but then they put it in sores where you can buy it over the counter. I personally didn't know you could get just as addicted to the gum as the cigarettes. My question is ... Could that have attributed to his heart attack? Thank you .
                                 Tammy O'Malley

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

_
Dear Tammy, thank you for your question.  Chewing nicorette gum can cause serum levels of nicotine to be as high as with smoking cigarettes.  Nicotine is known to be a precipitator of heart attacks, but so are multiple other factors like platelet function, cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.  Nicotine certainly could have contributed to your father's heart attack, but there's no way to quantify this contribution.  
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.  Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.   The Heart
Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.