MUNICH — Women who smoke tend to have their first acute MI considerably earlier in life than do male smokers.
This observation in a Norwegian case-control study suggests that smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease to a relatively greater degree in women than in men, Dr. Morten Grundtvig said at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
Women smokers lose more than twice as many years of good health as do men, added Dr. Grundtvig of Innlandet Hospital, Lillehammer, Norwa.
He reported on 1,784 consecutive patients, of whom 38% were women, who presented with a first MI during 1998–2005. Thirty-nine percent of the men and 23% of the women were current smokers.
Smoking women experienced their first MI 15 years prematurely, while men who smoked had their first MI 8 years prematurely. Specifically, the average age at which men had their first MI was 64 years in current smokers, 75 years in ex-smokers, and 72 years in nonsmokers. The age differential was far greater among the women; the first MI occurred at age 66 years in current smokers, 74 years in ex-smokers, and 81 years in nonsmokers.
After adjustment for differences in hypertension, diabetes, and other cardiovascular risk factors, 13.7 years of the age difference between women with an MI who smoked and those who never smoked were attributed to smoking. In men, the adjusted difference was 6.2 years, according to Dr. Grundtvig.