Women smokers are 25 per cent more likely to contract heart disease than their male counterparts, the Irish Times said in a story citing a new US study.

Data culled from studies covering nearly four million individuals indicate the additional risk of heart disease in women compared to men increased 2 per cent for each year of smoking, the newspaper reported. The findings by Dr Rachel Huxley, from the University of Minnesota, and Dr Mark Woodward, from Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland, are published in the current edition of Lancet, a British medical journal.
A summary of the study on the Lancet web site states: “Whether mechanisms underlying the sex difference in risk of coronary heart disease are biological or related to differences in smoking behaviour between men and women is unclear. Tobacco-control programmes should consider women, particularly in those countries where smoking among young women is increasing in prevalence.” (pi)