Women smokers at higher risk

Smoking is 25 per cent more likely to give women heart disease than men, a study has found.

Toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke may have a more potent effect on women due to biological differences, scientists believe.

US researchers analysed pooled data on around four million individuals from 86 studies. After adjusting for other risk factors, they found the increased risk of heart disease linked to smoking was 25 per cent higher for women.

The longer a woman smoked, the greater her heart disease risk was compared with that of a man who had smoked for the same length of time. A woman's extra risk increased by 2 per cent for every additional year she had been smoking.

In the UK, 21 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men smoke cigarettes.

Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "It's alarming to see such a large study confirm that women are so much more at risk of heart disease from smoking than men.

"Despite women generally smoking fewer cigarettes a day than men, biologically women seem more susceptible to the dangers of smoking and passive smoking."