Put down that cigarette, Virginia!

Smoking, Heart Disease and Women

I just read a scary statistic:  women who smoke have a 25% higher risk of heart disease than men who smoke.  This risk is increased 2% per year for every year that a woman smokes. 

The article was a review written by Dr. Rachel Huxley from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.  It was published in the Lancet.  That’s a pretty respectable journal.  The articles that were reviewed were from all over the world. 

Dr. Huxley thinks the risk could be even higher, because women tend to smoke less than men.  They also tend to under-report their smoking. 

She also noted twice the risk of lung cancer in women vs. men in these studies.

So, put down that cigarette, Virginia!