What's New Heart News Smoking proves even more likely to cause heart attacks in women HeartInfo Commentary Premenopausal women have a significantly reduced risk of heart attack than men of the same age. Risk increases rapidly, however, after menopause. It is unknown why smoking increases heart attack risk in women more than men.
Further study is necessary to determine the relationship of smoking and estrogen.
Because smoking among teenagers is on the rise, it is especially important for kids to understand that smoking can cause illness and death even at a young age. Researchers tallied the number of study participants who suffered a fatal or nonfatal heart attack over a 12 year period. They ruled out other factors besides gender that could alter a person's risk of having a heart attack, including blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, body size, alcohol consumption, physical activity, education level, and diabetes. Researchers found that for both men and women, the risk of heart attack rose with increased smoking. However, the risks were consistently higher in female smokers than in their male counterparts, authors note.