Female Smokers at Greater Risk for Lung Disease

Posted on November 28, 2007 in Latest News

According to new research study smoking women are more prone to develop lung diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema than men. Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) are the second most common reason of death in China.

According to the research conducted in Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, under Dr. Fei Xu smoke from cigarettes, coal and other fuels are called as COPD risk factors. Research did not study the amount of smoking that contributes to COPD risks.

To assess the association and explain the role of indoor air pollution, 1,743 people with COPD were compared to 1,743 healthy people with controls coordinated with sex, age and residence. Almost 5.3% of the total participants were women smokers and more than ½ were men smokers. On the basis of number of cigarettes smoked in their lifetime participants were divided into 3 groups.

Researchers found that mild cigarette smokers had 40% increased risk of COPD, average smokers had 55% of greater risk whereas heavy smokers had 77% increased risk. Researchers could not find a significant link between the type of fuel used and COPD. But they could conclude that usage of coal during winters increased COPD risk among non-smokers particularly in women.

Result of research study showed that women smokers are 20% more prone to develop COPD. But the prominent reasons for this liking are still not clear. Finally they concluded that “Our findings clearly support the fact that the highest priority in terms of public health initiatives to prevent COPD is to stop cigarette smoking, especially in populations such as the one studied, in which cigarette smoking is highly prevalent.”

Comments

Leave a Reply