Women now account for 39 percent of all smoking-related deaths each year in the United States, a proportion that has more than doubled since 1965. Women not only share the same health risk as men, but are also faced with health consequences that are unique to women, including pregnancy complications, problems with menstrual function, and cervical cancer. Since 1980, nearly three million U.S. women have died prematurely from smoking. The new report calls for stronger national and local efforts, particularly from women's groups, to push for the implementation of proven solutions to reduce and prevent tobacco use among women and girls. In 1999, approximately 165,000 women died prematurely from smoking-related diseases, like cancer and heart disease.
Women also face unique health effects from smoking such as problems related to pregnancy.
In the 1990s, the decline in smoking rates among adult women stalled and, at the same time, rates were rising steeply among teenage girls, blunting earlier progress. Smoking rates among women with less than a high school education are three times higher than for college graduates. Nearly all women who smoke started as teenagers - and 30 percent of high school senior girls are still current smokers. But there is no better word to describe the 600-percent increase since 1950 in women's death rates for lung cancer. All Concept Communications material is provided for information only and is neither advice nor a substitute for proper medical care.