The adverse health effects associated with smoking have been well documented, but now a new study from The Lancet suggests that the outcomes could be even worse for women. Led by researchers from the Division of Epidemiolgy at the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University, the results of a meta-analysis on a total of 2.4 million subjects reveals that the risk for coronary heart disease is 25 percent higher among female smokers than among male smokers. In fact, the longer a woman smokes, the higher her risk of coronary heart disease becomes, as compared to men who smoked for the same length of time.
Since smoking is one of the main causes of coronary heart disease globally, the authors advise physicians and health professionals to increase their efforts at promotion of smoking cessation in all individuals. They also warn that women who smoke have double the risk of lung cancer compared to male smokers another statistic that should make any woman want to kick the habit.
