Women and Smoking

October 27, 2008

As well as the commonly known health issues with smoking, smoking for women carries with it extra risks.

For instance, any woman taking the contraceptive pill faces a very small risk of side effects such as thrombosis, stroke or heart attack. If you’re a woman who smokes you increase these ‘very small risks’ by approximately 8 times.

Smoking has also been shown to be particularly damaging for pregnant women, in some cases doubling the chances of complications. This is because chemicals in cigarette smoke interfere with the circulation of blood through the placenta, meaning fewer nutrients are supplied to the unborn baby. As a result, even for those women lucky enough to not have complications, on average a baby born to a smoking mother will be 200g (8 oz) lighter than one born to a non-smoker.

For the new born children the problems do not stop there as research has shown that the effects on children’s health can be seen many years later. At the age of 11, children born to smoking mothers are on average three months behind on school work compared to children whose mothers did not smoke at all during pregnancy.