How Smoking Affects a Woman's Heart
Quitting now will lower your risk for heart disease!
Let’s get down to facts: Heart disease is the number-one killer of women in the United States, and you are four times more likely to die from it if you smoke.
“Woman smokers typically have heart attacks 19 years earlier than women who’ve never smoked,” says cardiologist Deborah Sundlof, D.O., of Lehigh Valley Health Network. “Sadly, while overall smoking rates have declined in recent years, the fastest growing group of smokers is teenage girls.”
Smoking harms the body in many ways that lead to heart disease. It lowers HDL (good) cholesterol, raises blood pressure and speeds athero sclerosis, the buildup of plaque in the arteries. Your risk is even greater if you take birth control pills. Smoking also leads to earlier menopause, when women lose the natural protection estrogen gives their hearts.
“Living a healthy, tobacco-free lifestyle is the best thing you can do for your heart,” says Sundlof’s colleague, gynecologist Karen Sciascia, D.O.
Published from Healthy You Magazine May-June 2007
This page last updated 10/26/10 10:55 AM
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