The results of two independent studies indicate that while women tend to smoke less and are less likely to inhale deeply than men, they encounter considerably more difficulty when they try to quit. Women also tend to smoke brands of cigarettes that are lower in nicotine. Dr. Thomas Eissenberg of the Virginia Commonwealth University agrees that the dependence of women on cigarette smoking may be influenced by external factors. The taste, sight, or smell of cigarette smoke may create a conditioned response in women, leading to psychological dependence. Alternately, suggests Dr. Perkins, there may be social pleasures to be derived from smoking rituals.
Smokers exhibit gender differences in the way they gather outside buildings to smoke . . .
The association of pleasant socialization with smoking can create dependence as well. For one of every 200 of these patients, such disparities may have resulted in death. Researchers reviewed medical records from more than 500 hospitals in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York. They found racial disparities in quality of care in basic hospital services such as physical exams, diagnostic tests, drug therapies, and taking of patient histories. These disparities were most pronounced for African-American patients with heart failure who were treated in community hospitals.