pendent risk factor for CHD in type 2 diabetic patients \[[@B32]\]. In the Nurses\' Health Study, in women with type 2 diabetes, it was demonstrated that cigarette smoking was associated in a dose-dependent manner with an increased mortality and CHD. Compared with never-smokers, the relative risks for CHD were 1.66 for current smokers of 1 to 14 cigarette per day, and 2.68 for current smokers of 15 or more cigarettes per day \[[@B33],[@B34]\].

Recently, a meta-analysis in the Asia-Pacific region, in men with diabetes, the hazard ratio comparing current smokers with non-smokers was 1.42 for CHD. In Asia, where there are high rates of smoking, and a rapidly increasing prevalence of diabetes, the author concluded that cigarette cessation strategies there were huge benefits in terms of reducing the burden of CVD in men with diabetes \[[@B35]\].

SMOKING AND STROKE
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Smoking also increases the risk of stroke in patients with diabetes, but may not be as strong as CHD. In the UKPD study, mathematical models were developed to estimate the risk of stroke, and the variables were smoking, duration of diabetes, age, sex, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol to high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, and presence of arterial fibrillation \[[@B36]\]. In a study using the general practice research database in the United Kingdom, smoking was an additional risk factor for stroke in type 2 diabetic patients \[[@B37]\]. Another 4-year prospective study, also showed that smoking and HbA1c were predictors of stroke among the type 2 diabetic patients without a history of a previous stroke \[[@B38]\].

The relative risk of smoking for stroke has not been as high as that for CHD. In the Nurses\' Health Study, in smokers who smoked 1 to 14 cigarette per day, the risk was significant for CHD but not for stroke. In those who smoked 15 cigarettes or more per day, the relative risk for CHD and stroke were 2.68 and 1.84, respectively \[[@B33]\]. Similar trends were shown in a Swedish study, in which the relative r