Study shows smoking can lead to earlier heart disease in women

MUNICH, Germany Smoking can cause women to develop heart disease comparatively earlier than men who smoke, according to a study by doctors in Norway presented at the European Society of Cardiology.

The doctors studied data from 1,784 patients admitted for first heart attacks at a hospital in Lillehammer, Norway. They found that while men who smoked had heart attacks on average at age 64, compared to 72 for non-smokers, women who smoked had heart attacks at 66, compared to 81 for women who didn’t smoke.

The researchers adjusted the data for other risk factors related to heart disease, such as cholesterol and diabetes, and determined that women who smoke on average experience heart attacks 14 years earlier than women who don’t; among men, the difference is six years.