The Facts About Women and Smoking

Several decades after the launch of that famous ad campaign aimed at getting women to smoke, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby," women are now smoking at about the same rate as men and suffering some of the same, if not greater, health consequences. In 2004, 21.5 million (18.5 percent) of women smoked in this country, along with 22 percent of female high school students. The number is still less than men, but gap has continued to decrease each year.

Keep in mind that it is no harder for a woman to quit smoking successfully than a man. Women who smoke cigarettes are at an increased risk for lung cancer, heart disease and complications of oral contraceptive use. Smoking is the cause of 80 percent of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) deaths in women each year. During pregnancy, cigarette smoking increases the risks of a low birth weight infant and infant mortality.

It's estimated that cigarette smoking kills 178,408 women in this country annually. On average, women smokers who die of smoking-related causes shorten their lives by 14.5 years.

Women's risk of lung disease

Female smokers aged 35 or older are:

• 12 times more likely than women who don't smoke to die of lung cancer
• 10.5 times more likely than nonsmoking females to die from emphysema or chronic bronchitis
• Almost 13 times more likely to die from emphysema or bronchitis

Smoking increases pregnancy risks

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy can cause serious health problems for an unborn child. Cigarette smoking not only passes nicotine on to the fetus; it also prevents as much as 25 percent of oxygen from reaching the placenta.

Yet, in 2003, 10.7 percent of mothers smoked during pregnancy. It is estimated that only 25 percent of women quit smoking once they become pregnant and that as many as 10 percent of all infant deaths could be prevented if pregnant women did not smoke.

• Smoking during pregnancy accounts for 20 to 30 percent of low-birth weight babies, up to 14 percent of preterm deliveries and about 10 percent of all infant deaths.
• Maternal smoking has been linked to asthma in infants and young children.
• Mothers who smoke and breastfeed their babies pass nicotine to their children through breast milk. Also, infants are more likely to develop colds, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases if secondhand smoke is present in the home or day care center.
• Research suggests that infants of mothers who smoke during and after pregnancy are 2 to 3 times more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than babies born to nonsmoking mothers.

Below are additional facts from the American Lung Association about the health risks faced by women smokers:

• In addition to lung cancer, women who smoke have an increased risk for developing cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx (voice box), esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and uterine cervix.
• Women who smoke double their risk for developing coronary heart disease.
• Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than never smokers.
• Cigarette smoking causes skin wrinkling that could make smokers appear less attractive and prematurely old.

Related Articles What's in Your Cigarette? The Best Ways to Kick the Habit Teenage Smoking Causes Permanent Lung Damage How Women Can Stop Smoking Smoking - Not So Sexy The Dangers of Secondhand Smoking

External Sources American Lung Association, Women and smoking fact sheet. Accessed May 16, 2007. American Cancer Society, Women and smoking: an epidemic. Accessed May 16. 2007.

This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.

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