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Moderate smoking linked to sudden cardiac death in women
Women who are light-to-moderate smokers face a significant risk for sudden cardiac death compared with nonsmokers, researchers reported in Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology.
The new data suggest that long-term smokers may be at even greater risk. For every 5 years of continued smoking, risk for sudden cardiac death increased by 8%.
Researchers examined the incidence of sudden cardiac death among more than 100,000 healthy women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. At baseline, the women were aged 30 to 55 years and had no history of CHD, stroke and cancer. Most women were white and initiated smoking in their late teens.
During 30 years of follow-up, 351 women died of sudden cardiac death.
Compared with never smokers, healthy women who were current smokers had almost two and a half times the risk for sudden cardiac death (95% CI, 1.8-3.31) and light-to-moderate current smokers (one to 14 cigarettes per day) had nearly two times the risk for sudden cardiac death (95% CI, 1.16-2.92).
Among women with CVD, risk for sudden cardiac death decreased to that of a nonsmoker within 15 to 20 years after smoking cessation. In the absence of CVD, there was an immediate reduction in sudden cardiac death risk, occurring in less than 5 years, according to a press release.
“Until now, we didn’t know how the quantity and duration of smoking affected the risk among apparently healthy women, nor did we have long-term follow-up,” Roopinder K. Sandhu, MD, MPH, from the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, said in a press release.
Disclosure: Sandhu and colleagues report no relevant financial disclosures.
Perspective
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When we talk about sudden cardiac death, we are talking about a disease entity that affects 300,000 to 400,000 people. This study is significant because not only does it stress the fact that smoking is linked to sudden cardiac death in women, but, more importantly, it quantifies how much. The study shows that even small to moderate amounts — defined as one to 14 cigarettes per day — are associated with an almost twofold increase in sudden cardiac death. The other critical finding is that the researchers showed a significant reduction in sudden cardiac death in women who stop smoking. If this isn’t a wake-up call for women to stop smoking, then nothing is.
Heart disease a preventable condition, and here is a significant risk factor we can modify. The study shows that if women quit smoking, their risk for sudden cardiac death decreases to that of a nonsmoker within 15 to 20 years after quitting. This is great evidence that risk modification truly works, especially for a disease that is so profoundly devastating.