It's long been known that women are more likely to die of lung cancer than men. Now scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have begun to figure out why. Nicotine, which enters the body when a person smokes a cigarette, awakens this normally inactive gene. These findings offer the first biological clue as to why women are more susceptible to lung cancer than men, says Sharon Persinger Shriver, PhD, lead author of the study. After scrutinizing surveys from more than 400 women with this condition, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that smokers were three times more likely to develop the deadly cancer than nonsmokers.
Ovarian cancer is very difficult to diagnose because there are no early warning signs.
This study provides yet another reason for women to quit smoking. Combine the information from these two studies with what is already known about the health risks of smoking, and it seems obvious that every woman should try to overcome the habit. McCain, for one, had tried to quit more times than she could count. When friends and family reminded her about the damage she was causing to her body, she largely ignored them. Excuses are easy to make for an addiction you enjoy.