And if for the new year you decide tostop smoking ? To motivate you, Canadian researchers have just published a study on the cardiovascular risks of smoking in women. And the results are disturbing to say the least…
Every 5 years the risk increases by 8%
The researchers studied the rate of sudden death linked to a heart problem (including heart attack and theCardiac arrythmia) in more than 101,000 women. On average, participants who smoked indicated that they started smoking in their late teens. The study leaders reviewed records dating back to 1980 with 30 years of follow-up on participants aged 30 to 55 at the start of the study. During the study, 351 women died of sudden cardiac death.
The results showed that even among moderate smokers (1 to 14 cigarettes per day) without any particular health problem, the risk of sudden death due to a heart problem is twice as great as among non-smokers. And it is even higher for long-term smokers. Every 5 years of smoking the risk increases by 8%.
Among women already suffering from cardiovascular disorders, the risk of sudden cardiac death becomes equivalent to that of a non-smoker 15 to 20 years after quitting smoking. In the absence of heart disease, less than 5 years without a cigarette is enough for the risk to drop to the same level.
Women more susceptible to the harmful effects of tobacco
Dr. Roopinder Sandhu, lead author of the study and a cardiology specialist at the Mazankowski Institute in Alberta, explains: “Our study shows that smoking is an important and modifiable risk factor for the risk of sudden cardiac death. in all women. Quitting smoking before heart disease develops is essential. Until now, we didn’t know how often or for how long smoking affected seemingly healthy women, we didn’t realize of such a long-term follow-up so far.”
A major American study last year has already shown that women smokers are 25% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than men who smoke. Toxins in cigarette smoke seem to affect women more. And the risk could be even greater when we know that on average women smoke less cigarettes than men.