Cigarette smoking results in more respiratory symptoms in women than in men, a study has found. Norwegian researchers report that at the same smoking burden (pack years, defined as the number of years of smoking multiplied by the number of cigarettes smoked a day divided by 20), more women than men reported respiratory symptoms and current asthma.
The study of 65,717 people, of whom about one-third were current smokers, found that the prevalence of current asthma rose with increasing number of cigarettes smoked per day in women. No such increase was seen in men. A total of 10.4 per cent of women who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day had current asthma. More women than men also reported wheezing, breathlessness and persistent coughing with increasing smoking burden.
The researchers suggest that men and women inhale smoke to the same degree but that women’s smaller airways are probably exposed to a higher relative concentration of gases and particles in smoke (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2000;
54:917).