Women Are Increasingly Prone to Suffering from Tobacco-Related Diseases – New Research




According to ScienceDaily, smoking-related diseases and especially death rates among both American and European women have been on a significant rise within the recent decades. This troubling statistics show that aggressive anti-smoking measures that are being implemented in the US and such European countries as France, as well as worldwide, are not enough to prevent the spread of tobacco-related deaths among the global female population.


Dr. King, a practising professor at the College of Health and Human Development, points out that, despite radical, wide-scale anti-smoking campaigns employed in the entire industrialized world, female smoking rates currently undergo a steady increase. For example, in the US, more teenage girls smoke today than twenty years ago. This disturbing tendency is directly associated with the rise in tobacco-related illnesses and mortality among the female population of the country, says the doctor.

The statistics support Dr. King’s point of view. For instance, smoking-related deaths among North American women, especially those due to lung diseases, such as bronchitis, obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema and lung cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease, have risen by more than 30 percent since the year 1960.

A similar tendency is observed in other developed countries, particularly France. Until several decades ago, tobacco-related deaths among female population of this European economy had remained reasonably low and constituted less than four percent of total female mortality rates of the county. Nonetheless, since smoking attracts an increasing number of young French women, tobacco-related deaths among local women may soon increase a whopping 30 percent, projects Dr. King.

Why is smoking on the rise among women, particularly teenage girls? Experts link this tendency to numerous factors, some of which are: an allegedly “slimming” effect of cigarettes smoking, which is strongly appealing to image-conscious female teenagers; peer pressure; and psychological difficulties and low self-esteem of many teenagers who apply to tobacco in an attempt to boost their confidence and gain an “adult image”. Especially strong motive for smoking among women is their desire to remain slim, which is shamelessly exploited by tobacco corporations in order to hook vulnerable female populations on cigarette smoking.

The data used in this article was collected by American and French researchers who surveyed more than 22,000 women of different age groups. According to the study, over 30 percent of French women currently smoke, while in the US the proportion of smoking females is considerably less (about 26 percent). However, American women tend to smoke more cigarettes daily than their French counterparts – 18 cigarettes for the Americans in comparison with only 12 for French women.

Worldwide, cigarette smoking remains one of the most serious health concerns. Since about one sixth of the global population smoke, smoking-related illnesses claim lives of more than three million people every year! Some experts estimate that worldwide deaths due to tobacco consumption may increase three times within the coming ten years.

In November 2008, the increasing rates of smoking among American and European women, as well as possible solutions, are planned to be discussed at a global conference “Tobacco and Women: Understanding the Past, Changing the Future”.

Jimmy Edwards

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Posted on July 20, 2008 
Filed Under Smoking and Health, Smoking and Women, Smoking and Youth, Stop Smoking News

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