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Facts on Women and Smoking
Smoking is a woman’s issue. It is the #1 preventable cause of death for women. A woman’s annual risk for death more than doubles among continuing smokers compared with women who have never smoked. This year alone, lung cancer will kill nearly 72,000 U.S. women. That’s one in every four cancer deaths among women, and about 30,000 more deaths than from breast cancer (41,000). Since 1980, approximately 3 million U.S. women have died prematurely from smoking related diseases (cancer, heart disease, respiratory diseases), as well as cigarette-caused burns. Despite all that is known of the devastating health consequences of smoking, 19.2 percent of women smoked cigarettes in 2005. About 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths among women who continue to smoke are attributable to smoking. Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; it surpassed breast cancer in 1987. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a cause of lung cancer and coronary heart disease among women who are lifetime nonsmokers. Smoking during pregnancy remains a major public health problem despite increased knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking during pregnancy. In 2004, 11% of women in the U.S., 14% in Wisconsin, reported smoking during pregnancy. In 2005, 26% of high school senior girls reported having smoked within the past 30 days. Women who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely, and quitting smoking is beneficial at all ages. |
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