Quitting smoking cuts women's risk of artery disease

There are lots of good reasons to quit smoking, including a lower risk of cancer, heart disease, and lung problems. If you're a woman, new research suggests yet another incentive: a lower risk of peripheral arterial disease.

If you have peripheral arterial disease (PAD for short), large arteries in your body—usually in your legs—become too narrow. Not enough blood gets through to nourish your cells, which can lead to aching pain, numbness, tingling, and tiredness in your legs. If a leg is severely damaged by PAD, it may need to be amputated.

Studies have already linked smoking to a higher risk of PAD, but they have typically included more men than women. They also haven't explored whether stopping smoking might lower the risk of PAD.

To learn more, researchers followed nearly 40,000 women aged 45 and older for 13 years. At the start of the study, and every year after, the women completed surveys asking about their health and smoking habits. They were also asked whether they had any symptoms of PAD.

The findings were striking: Women who smoked 15 or more cigarettes a day were 10 times more likely to get symptoms of PAD than women who never smoked. The risk was much lower among women who quit smoking. They had only three times the risk of a lifelong non-smoker.

The researchers also found that a woman's risk climbed higher the more cigarettes she smoked a day and the longer she'd been smoking. On the flipside, her risk dropped as more time passed after giving up cigarettes.

The link between smoking and PAD remained strong even after researchers took into account other things that could have affected the women's risk, including their age, their body mass index (BMI), how active they were, how much alcohol they drank, and whether they had high blood pressure or diabetes.

Bottom line. Peripheral arterial disease is an often-painful condition that can cause serious damage to your legs. Quitting smoking may substantially reduce this risk.

If you're ready to kick the habit, there are treatments that can help, including nicotine patches and other types of nicotine replacement, counseling, and medications. Talk to your doctor about what might be best for you.

Read our tips on how to successfully quit smoking.

Source
Smoking, smoking status, and risk for symptomatic peripheral artery disease in women [Annals of Internal Medicine]

—Sophie Ramsey, BMJ Group

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