Women Smokers at Increased Risk of Heart Disease

It is no secret that smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. Each year over 500,000 people die due to a disease they would not have if they didn’t smoke. The chemicals in tobacco smoke are so dangerous that even inhaling second hand smoke on a regular basis can increase your risk of death.

Given that in decades past women were less likely to smoke than men, tobacco companies-in search of profits-are actively looking for ways to hook women smokers.

New Research Reveals Increased Heart Disease Risk in Female Smokers

Recently, a new analysis of a large cluster of studies of male and female smokers-looking at 3.9 million smokers in total and analyzed by researchers at John Hopkins University-discovered that women smokers are at least 25% more likely to develop heart disease than male smokers. This increase may not sound like a lot, but smokers when compared to non-smokers are already at triple the risk of dying from heart disease, and this doesn’t include the increased risk of other serious diseases such as lung cancer and stroke.

Why are women at an increased of developing heart disease from smoking?

Researchers are uncertain about the cause for the increased risk. It could be due to increased concentration of chemicals from cigarettes in women’s bodies, or due to differences in metabolism between men and women.

What can be done about it?

The good news is that smokers who quit smoking today will cut their risk of dying of heart disease in half, as the body begins to repair the damage done to blood vessels by smoking. In ten years, the risk of heart disease for former smokers approaches that of people who have never smoked.

Sources:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/heartdisease/story/2011/08/Women-smokers-are-at-greater-risk-for-heart-disease-than-men/49918808/1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking#Health_effects

http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/cvd/page1.htm


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