Women Smokers 25 pc More Prone to Heart Attacks Than Men

Women who smoke are more prone to heart attacks then men, according to a study.

According to a research published in a British medical journal The Lancet, women have a 25 percent higher risk than men to develop heart disease.

It’s not very clear why the risk is greater in women.

However, the lead researcher Rachel R. Huxley, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota suggested, "Women may absorb more carcinogens and other toxic agents in cigarettes compared to men."

Tobacco consumption is one of the biggest factors causing heart disease in the world.

Huxley and her colleagues, Mark Woodward from the department of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, gathered data from 75 studies, involving almost 4 million people, that looked at the risk of heart disease between smokers and nonsmokers.

Smoking doubles the risk of a heart attack for both men and women.

However, Huxley said, Women have different smoking habits from men. "Despite smoking fewer cigarettes than men on average, they may smoke more of the cigarette. They might smoke right to the end of the cigarette, compared to men -- we just don't know," she said.

Jane Landon of the UK’s National Heart Forum told the BBC that tobacco companies specifically target women, with "slim cigarettes in small, attractive packs in appealing textures and colours."