In a new study, researchers found women smokers have a much higher heart attack risk compared with men, especially women under 50 years old.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Sheffield.
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for women and men worldwide, and a major heart attack is among the most life-threatening forms of heart disease.
It is caused by a complete blockage of one of the main coronary arteries.
Smoking is a risk factor for heart disease and researchers have shown that smoking increases both men’s and women’s risk of a major heart attack at all ages.
Despite the increased risk, smokers can reduce their risk to that of a never smoker in as little as a month after quitting.
In the study, the team examined how smoking could affect heart attack risk in men and women smokers.
They examined data of heart attack in 3,343 patients, with 46.8% of female patients and 47.6% of male patients.
The result showed that smoking increases the heart attack risk in all patients. However, the risk is higher in females compared to males at all ages.
The largest relative risk difference between men and women smokers was in the 50-64 years old group, but the highest risk increase in both genders was in the 18-49 years group—the youngest group.
Female smokers in this age group had a greater than 13 times higher risk of heart attack compared with their non-smoking women. Young male smokers had 8.6 times increased risk.
The researchers provide several possible reasons why smoking leads to such a greater risk of a major heart attack for women.
This includes that smoking may lower levels of serum estrogen. Estrogens, which have long been known to have protective effects against atherosclerosis, are inhibited in female smokers.
Also, men have larger coronary arteries than women, meaning that chronic inflammation from smoking may lead to a greater degree of arterial narrowing in women than men.
The researchers also found it is possible to reverse the risk by quitting smoking. They encourage smokers to stop smoking to protect their heart health.
The lead author of the study is Ever Grech, MD.
The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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