Smoking - Women

Smoking - Women in West Virginia

West Virginia

Smoking cigarettes has an adverse impact on overall health. As the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for the deaths of more than 480,000 Americans every year, including 201,770 women. One study estimated the probability of female smokers living to age 80 to be 38%, compared with 70% for female nonsmokers. Smoking damages nearly every organ and is associated with heart disease and stroke, lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple types of cancer and more. 

People who do not smoke are also affected by smoking. Secondhand smoke exposure can lead to respiratory and ear infections in children and heart disease and lung cancer in adults. Exposure to secondhand smoke is estimated to cause about 41,000 deaths among U.S. adults every year. 

Smoking may affect reproductive health. Women who smoke are more likely to have reduced fertility, go through menopause at a younger age and experience adverse birth outcomes, including miscarriage and sudden infant death syndrome. Further, infants born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy have a higher risk of preterm birth, low birthweight and issues with lung and brain development that can last into childhood or adulthood.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the popularity of e-cigarettes, especially among youth. Many contain nicotine and other cancer-causing chemicals. 

Additionally, smoking is estimated to cost the U.S. between $132.5 and $175.9 billion in medical expenses and $151 billion in lost productivity due to premature death every year.

The prevalence of smoking is higher among:

• Women ages 25-44 compared with women ages 18-24.
• American Indian/Alaska Native women, multiracial women and white women compared with Black, Hispanic and Asian women.
• Women without a college degree compared with college graduates. 
• Women with an annual household income less than $25,000 compared with women with an income of $75,000 or more. 

Quitting smoking can have profound benefits on current and long-term health, even among heavy and lifelong smokers:

• Individuals who quit smoking before age 40 live an average of 10 years longer than those who continue. 
• The risk of stroke becomes similar to that of nonsmokers five years after quitting. 
• Pregnant women who quit smoking during the first trimester give birth to infants of comparable weight and height to those of nonsmoking women. 

A variety of interventions are effective for smoking prevention and cessation. For example, improving Medicaid coverage of smoking cessation programs is a promising avenue due to the high prevalence of smokers enrolled in Medicaid. Excise taxes and increased prices have been effective in preventing nonsmokers from starting, increasing cessation and decreasing smoking-related health problems. 

Additional resources include: 

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Health Online Resource Center offers guidelines on and examples of successful programs for preventing and controlling tobacco use.
• County Health Rankings & Roadmaps’ What Works for Health tool provides a list of evidence-based strategies to address tobacco use. 
• The National Cancer Institute’s Smokefree.gov website provides free, accurate and evidence-based information as well as professional assistance to support the immediate and long-term needs of smokers trying to quit. There are also resources specifically for women and pregnant women. Estimates have shown that for every dollar invested in smoking cessation programs for pregnant women, $3 are saved in future health care costs.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple objectives regarding tobacco use, including reducing current cigarette smoking in adults and increasing past-year attempts to quit smoking in adults.

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