Women who smoke cigarettes are just as likely as men to develop potentially fatal aneurysms in the main artery leading from the heart. Reuters Health reports that according to authors of a recent study, guidelines already recommend screening men over age 65 who have ever smoked for abdominal aortic aneurysm, a life-threatening condition, but it may be time to give women the same advice. "Smoking is a major risk factor for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and the risk appears to be as strong among women," said lead author Dr Eiman Jahangir, a senior lecturer with the University of Queensland School of Medicine-Ochsner Clinical School programme in New Orleans.
While the condition can be treated with surgery, "the risk is that they can continue to grow and burst, which is usually fatal," said Dr Vimal Gokani, a clinical research fellow at the British Heart Foundation in London who was not involved in the study.
The study team analysed data from a long term study of people in the US South. They focused on a total of 18,792 participants who were over 65 and had Medicare coverage. Participants answered questionnaires including information about demographics, tobacco use and personal and family health histories. The researchers compared this information with Medicare records to determine that 281 people had suffered aneurysms during the study period.
Men were twice as likely as women to have aneurysms and whites were 2.5 times more likely than blacks to experience the condition. Smoking was the strongest risk factor, however, with former smokers – both men and women – facing almost twice the risk of never smokers, and current smokers facing an overall risk five and a half times that of never smokers. The difference smoking made was especially pronounced among women, with former smokers having three and a half times the risk of women who had never smoked and current smokers having nine times the risk of women who had never smoked.
The researchers note that this is problematic, as aneurysms are more often severe when they happen to women. Having high blood pressure or a history of heart surgery also increased the risk of aneurysm, while being overweight was linked to a lowered risk. Gokani noted that having a family history of aneurysm and high cholesterol can also increase a person’s risk.
Currently, men between the ages of 65 and 75 who have ever smoked are advised to have a one-time screening ultrasound to check for aneurysm, according to Jahangir. He said that women are not currently included in these recommendations and "more studies need to be done to see if women would also benefit from screening ultrasound for AAA." Both Jahangir and Gokani said that quitting smoking will likely reduce the risk of aneurysm. "Smoking cessation is very difficult, but so important," Gokani said.
[link url="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/15/us-health-smoking-aneurysm-women-idUSKBN0KO2GB20150115"]Full Reuters Health report[/link]
[link url="http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2015/01/06/jech-2014-204920.short?g=w_jech_ahead_tab"]Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health abstract[/link]