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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – DALLAS, Dec. 11, 2012 — Women who are even light-to-moderate cigarette smokers may be significantly more likely than nonsmokers to suffer sudden cardiac death, according to new
research in Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, an American
Heart Association journal.
The findings indicate long-term smokers may be at even greater risk.
But quitting smoking can reduce and eliminate the risk over time.
“Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for sudden cardiac death, but
until now, we didn’t know how the quantity and duration of smoking
effected the risk among apparently healthy women, nor did we have
long-term follow-up,” said Roopinder K. Sandhu, M.D., M.P.H., the
study’s lead author and a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University
of Alberta’s Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Researchers examined the incidence of sudden cardiac death among more than 101,000 healthy women in the Nurses’ Health Study, which has collected biannual health questionnaires from female nurses nationwide since 1976. They included records dating back to 1980 with 30 years of follow-up. Most of the participants were white, and all were between 30 to 55 years old at the study’s start. On average, those who smoked reported that they started in their late teens.
During the study, 351 participants died of sudden cardiac death.
Other findings include:
— Light-to-moderate smokers, defined in this study as those who smoked one
to 14 cigarettes daily, had nearly two times the risk of sudden cardiac
death as their nonsmoking counterparts.
— Women with no history of heart disease, cancer, or stroke who smoked had
almost two and a half times the risk of sudden cardiac death compared
with healthy women who never smoked.
— For every five years of continued smoking, the risk climbed by 8
percent.
— Among women with heart disease, the risk of sudden cardiac death dropped
to that of a nonsmoker within 15 to 20 years after smoking cessation. In
the absence of heart disease, there was an immediate reduction in sudden
cardiac death risk, occurring in fewer than five years.
Sudden cardiac death results from the abrupt loss of heart function,
usually within minutes after the heart stops. It’s a primary cause of
heart-related deaths, accounting for between 300,000-400,000 deaths in
the United States each year.
“Sudden cardiac death is often the first sign of heart disease among
women, so lifestyle changes that reduce that risk are particularly
important,” said Sandhu, who is also a visiting scientist at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. “Our study shows that cigarette
smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for sudden cardiac death
among all women. Quitting smoking before heart disease develops is
critical.”
Co-authors are Monik C. Jimenez, Sc.D.; Stephanie E. Chiuve, Sc.D.;
Kathryn C. Fitzgerald, M.Sc.; Stacey A. Kenfield, Sc.D.; Usha B.
Tedrow, M.D.; and Christine M. Albert, M.D., M.P.H. Author disclosures
are on the manuscript.
The National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association
funded the study.
Learn more from the American Heart Association on the benefits of not
smoking and how to quit smoking. Learn more about the unique heart
disease risks women face and how to beat them at www.GoRedForWomen.org.
For the latest heart news, follow us on Twitter: #Heart News.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart
Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors
and do not necessarily reflect the association’s policy or position.
The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their
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influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and
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