Women and Smoking

Cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death among women. Since 1980, smoking-related illnesses, including cancer, have claimed the lives of about 3 million women. Of the more than 4000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke, more than 40 are known carcinogens (cancer-causing substances).

In the Gambia we have been seeing women smokers and most of the time we are surprised to see such abnormal norms which are quite shocking to accept. We also see such women smokers in the Nigerian movies we watch at home, but smoking like every other thing has its dangerous effects. As a result, she she she have decided to give you some of the facts its readers needs to know, read on.

Addiction
While people become dependent on cigarettes for a number of reasons, addiction to the nicotine contained in cigarettes is the primary factor in smoking dependency. Its most immediate effect is a physiological "rush," an increase in blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate caused by stimulation of the adrenal glands to release epinephrine (adrenaline). Nicotine can also have a sedative effect. It leads to addiction primarily because of its effect on the neurotransmitter dopamine (chemical that activates the areas of the brain, called reward centers that control pleasure). Nicotine increases the levels of dopamine in the reward centers of the brain, similar to the action of other addictive substances, such as cocaine and heroine.

Nicotine in tobacco is a particularly powerful and effective drug delivery system, and "hooks" the smoker quickly. The nicotine within a single puff of cigarette smoke reaches the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation. While the effects of the substance are experienced quickly, they fade within minutes,which leads the user to dose frequently with cigarettes. It is estimated that a person who smokes about 1 1/2 packs a day receives 300 doses of nicotine daily. This high-frequency dosing reinforces the addictive quality of the drug.

In two studies funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, research indicates that dependence on cigarettes is not the result of nicotine alone. Women, teenagers, and Caucasians experience more symptoms of tobacco dependence than other groups, even while using the same number, or fewer, cigarettes. According to a 2001 review of available research on women and smoking, nicotine replacement therapy is less effective for women. Together, these findings may indicate that women's dependence on smoking is based in part on something in addition to nicotine.

Withdrawal Symptoms

As with other addictive drugs, withdrawal can be extremely unpleasant, making it difficult for the smoker to quit. Withdrawal symptoms include:

Craving

Difficulty thinking and concentrating

Increased appetite

Irritability

Sleep disturbances

Symptoms may begin within a few hours after the last cigarette, peak within a few days, and last from a few weeks to 6 months or more.

Incidence and Prevalence

According to a 1998 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 million women 18 years and older in the United States smoke cigarettes. Another 1.5 million adolescent girls are cigarette smokers.It is more prevalent among women living below the poverty level and is generally higher among women with mental health disorders, such as anxiety disorders, depression, bulimia, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, and alcoholism.

While smoking rates in general are declining, the number of women smoking cigarettes is not declining as rapidly as the number of men who smoke. Between 1965 and 1993, the percentage of men who smoke dropped 24%, while the number of women who smoke dropped only 11%.

In addition, women are beginning to smoke at a younger age. Smoking rates among female high school seniors increased from 17.9% in 1991 to 23.6% in 1997. If the trend continues, women smokers will soon outnumber men smokers. This is courtesy of the health communities.com

Smoking and Women Fact Sheet

Cigarette smoking was rare among women in the early 20th century and became prevalent among women after it did among men. In 2007, 19.8 million (17.4 percent) women smoked in the United States. Although fewer women smoke than men, the percentage difference between the two has continued to decrease. Today, with a much smaller gap between men's and women's smoking rates, women share a much larger burden of smoking-related diseases.

Smoking is directly responsible for 80 percent of lung cancer deaths in women. each year. In 1987, lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the U.S.

Female smokers are nearly 13 times more likely to die from COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis) compared to women who have never smoked. In 2008, an estimated 71,030 women will die of lung and bronchus cancer.

Smoking is directly responsible for more than 90 percent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or emphysema and chronic bronchitis deaths each year. In 2005, about 52 percent of all COPD deaths were in women. This is the sixth year in a row that women have outnumbered men in deaths attributable to COPD.

Annually, cigarette smoking kills an estimated 173,940 women in the United States.

Women who smoke also have an increased risk for developing cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx (voice box), esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and uterine cervix.

Women who smoke double their risk for developing coronary heart disease.

Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked. Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture compared to never smokers. Cigarette smoking also causes skin wrinkling that could make smokers appear less attractive and prematurely old.

Women have been extensively targeted in tobacco marketing dominated by themes of an association between social desirability, independence, weight control and smoking messages conveyed through advertisements featuring slim, attractive, and athletic models.

Teenage girls often start to smoke to avoid weight gain and to identify themselves as independent and glamorous, which reflect images projected by tobacco ads. Social images can convince teens that being slightly overweight is worse than smoking. Cigarette advertising portrays cigarettes as causing slimness and implies that cigarette smoking suppresses appetite.

Non-Hispanic black high school girls have had lower smoking rates than Non-Hispanic black high school boys since 1991. Non-Hispanic white high school girls and boys have had similar smoking rates during this period.

Cigarette smoking among black 12th grade girls decreased dramatically from 1976 to 1992 (from 37.5 percent to 7.0 percent) compared with that among white girls (from 39.9 percent to 31.2 percent). Between 1992 and 1998, smoking prevalence increased among white girls (from 31.2 percent to 41.0 percent).

Between 1999 and 2003, cigarette smoking prevalence among high school girls decreased by 37 percent. However, between 2003 and 2007, there was only a 2.3 percent decrease in prevalence of cigarette use among high school girls. While the overall trend in cigarette smoking among teenage girls has been decreasing, it is doing so at a slower rate.

Middle school white girls had the highest percentage of smoking (8.6 percent) in 2004.

In 2005, 10.7 percent of women smoked during pregnancy, down almost 42 percent from 1990.

Since 1990 teenagers and young adults have had the highest rates of maternal smoking during pregnancy.  In 2005, 16.6 percent of female teens aged 15-19 and 18.6 percent of women aged 20-24 smoked during pregnancy.

Neonatal health-care costs attributable to maternal smoking in the U.S. have been estimated at $366 million per year, or $740 per maternal smoker.

Mothers who smoke can pass nicotine to their children through breast milk.  Cigarette smoking not only passes nicotine on to the fetus; it also prevents as much as 25 percent of oxygen from reaching the placenta. Smoking during pregnancy accounts for 20 to 30 percent of low-birth weight babies, up to 14 percent of preterm deliveries and about 10 percent of all infant deaths.

Additionally, infants are more likely to develop colds, bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases if secondhand smoke is present in the home or day care center.  Maternal smoking has also been linked to asthma among infants and young children. The odds of developing asthma are twice as high among children whose mothers smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day.

Reducing frequency of smoking may not benefit the baby. A pregnant woman who reduces her smoking pattern or switches to lower tar cigarettes may inhale more deeply or take more puffs to get the same amount of nicotine as before.

The most effective way to protect the fetus is to quit smoking. If a woman plans to conceive a child in the near future, quitting is essential. A woman who quits within the first three or four months of pregnancy can lower the chances of her baby being born premature or with health problems related to smoking.

Women who quit smoking greatly reduce their risk of developing smoking-related diseases and dying prematurely.

Women who quit smoking relapse for different reasons than men.  Stress, weight control, and negative emotions, lead to relapse among women.

A study found among middle-aged smokers and former smokers with mild or moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease breathed easier after quitting. After one year the women who quit smoking had 2 times more improvement in lung function compared with the men who quit.

Watch out for another fun read, interesting and educating fun reads in next weeks she she she