Posted on January 22, 2008 in Latest News
Studies show that smoking increases the blood pressure levels in women. Experts state that this could be harmful for expecting mothers as well. Discover how necessary it is for a women to quit smoking by reading the article below.
Researchers claim that women who smoke two packets of cigarettes each day are at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure. The study therefore concluded on the note that increased blood pressure levels or hypertension can increase the risks of heart diseases as well (Source).
Studies suggest that coronary heart diseases have claimed about 5, 00,000 women’s lives each year in America. Also, more women than men have died of cardiovascular diseases every year since the 80’s.
Who is at a Risk of Developing High Blood Pressure?
High blood pressure targets people under the following conditions:
The last two risk factors highlight the vulnerability of women towards increased blood pressure levels.
Smoking Boosts Blood Pressure in Women
Thomas Bowman and his team from the Harvard Medical School, Boston collected data of about 28,236 women who took part in this health study. Researchers revealed that women who smoked 15 or more cigarettes in a day were 11% more at a risk of developing high blood pressure.
The study also revealed that women who smoked less than 15 cigarettes were at a lower risk of developing high blood pressure. The percentage accounting for the same was as low as 4% only.
Smoking is Cancerous
Harlan Krumholz from the Yale University School of Medicine further asserts that high blood pressure is an added threat to smoking itself. This is true to on account of the fact that cigarettes normally contain about 5000 chemicals which are called carcinogens.
Carcinogens are harmful substances that promote cancer or facilitate its promotion. Smoking itself is a hazardous condition to deal with but when accompanied with high blood pressure your situation could be worse.
Smoking Can Increase Blood Pressure of Babies
A Dutch study revealed that babies born out of mothers who smoked regularly were also vulnerable towards developing systolic blood pressure. It was however not confirmed whether babies would grow up to have systolic blood pressure or not. The study revealed that the systolic blood pressure was 5.4 points higher in babies whose mothers smoked or those who were exposed to secondhand smoking.
Women should therefore quit smoking much before they realize that they are caught with cancer and blood pressure perils. Also it isn’t fair or safe to induce systolic blood pressure in their unborn babies.
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