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Smoking Among Women: 

Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke

Fact Sheet

February 2006

Fact Sheet in Adobe Acrobat Format ( PDF 

Logo

 PDF–67KB)

Cigarette Smoking and Women

● Since 1980, when the first Surgeon General's Report on 

Women and Smoking was released, about three million 

women have died prematurely of smoking-related 

diseases. 1

● From 1997 to 2001, smoking resulted in an estimated 

annual average of 178,000 deaths among women in the 

United States.2 An estimated 54,000 of these deaths are 

from cardiovascular diseases, including strokes.2 

● Women smokers who die of a smoking-related disease lose 

on average 14 years of potential life.1

● Current smoking prevalence among women is 18.5%.3

● By education level, current smoking prevalence was 

highest among women who had earned a General 

Educational Development (GED) diploma (39.6%) and 

those with a 9th to 11th grade education (34.0%), and 

generally decreased with increasing years of education.3

● Smoking prevalence is higher among women living below 

the poverty level (27.1%) than among those living at or 

above the poverty level (17.7%).3
● Among adult female racial/ethnic populations, Asians 

(4.8%) and Hispanics (10.9%) had the lowest prevalence 

of current smoking; American Indians/Alaska Natives had 

the highest prevalence (28.5%), followed by non-Hispanic 

whites (20.4%) and non-Hispanic blacks (17.2%).3

Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke 

● Smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease 

among women. Risk increases with the number of 

cigarettes smoked and the duration of smoking.1

● Cigarette smoking has been associated with sudden 

cardiac death of all types in women.4

● Women who smoke have an increased risk for ischemic 

stroke (blood clot in one of the arteries supplying the 

brain) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding in the area 

surrounding the brain).1

● Women who smoke have an increased risk for peripheral 

vascular atherosclerosis.1

● Studies support a causal relationship between exposure to 

environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease 

mortality among women nonsmokers. 1

● Smoking low-tar or low-nicotine cigarettes rather than 

regular cigarettes appears to have little effect on reducing 

the risk for coronary heart disease.4

Quitting Smoking and Attempts to Quit

● More than three–fourths (75.2%) of women want to quit 

smoking completely, and nearly half (46.6%) report 

having tried to quit during the previous year.1

● Women who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of 

dying prematurely. The relative benefits of smoking 

cessation are greater when women stop smoking at 

younger ages, but smoking cessation is beneficial at all 

ages.1

● Smoking cessation reduces the excess risk of coronary 

heart disease, no matter at what age women stop 
smoking. The risk is substantially reduced within 1 or 2 

years after they stop smoking.1

● The increased risk for stroke associated with smoking 

begins to reverse after women stop smoking.1

● Former smokers have the same stroke risk as nonsmokers 

after 5 to 15 years.4

 

Citations

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women 

and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for 

Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office 

on Smoking and Health, 2001. 

2. CDC. Annual Smoking–Attributable Mortality, Years of 

Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses — United 

States, 1997–2001. ( PDF 

Image

 PDF - 256k) Morbidity and 

Mortality Weekly Report 2005;54(25):625–628. 

 

3. CDC. Cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 

2004. ( PDF 

Image

 PDF - 287k) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly 

Report 2005;54(44):1121–1124. 

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 

Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon 

General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National 

Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health 

Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.

For Further Information

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health 

Promotion 

Office on Smoking and Health 

E–mail: tobaccoinfo@cdc.gov

Phone: 1–800–CDC–INFO 
Media Inquiries: Contact the Office on Smoking and Health press 

line at 770-488-5493.

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This page last reviewed May 12, 2006

United States Department of Health and Human Services

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Office on Smoking and Health