- THURSDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) — The risk of stroke for a
young woman smoker is directly related to the number of cigarettes she
smokes, a new study finds.

While smoking has been clearly established as increasing the risk of
stroke, “there is not a lot of data out there on the actual dose
response,” said Dr. John Cole, the study's corresponding author and an
assistant professor of neurology at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine in Baltimore.

Cole and his colleagues interviewed 466 women who had had a stroke, and
also 604 women who hadn't. All were between the ages of 15 and 49, and
were either smokers, non-smokers or former smokers.

Any smoking at all doubles the risk of stroke, the study found. The
risk was 2.2 times greater for women smoking one to 10 cigarettes a day,
4.3 times greater for those smoking 21 to 39 cigarettes a day, and 9.1
times greater for those smoking two packs a day or more, compared to
nonsmokers.

The study also demonstrated the benefit of quitting smoking. Stroke
risk declined as early as 30 days after a woman gave up smoking and
returned to normal in about two years.

“Stopping is the best thing to do, but cutting back will also reduce
the risk,” Cole said.

Smoking raises the risk not only of stroke but also of heart disease by
damaging blood vessels and making blood clots more likely, Cole said.

The study findings are published in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal
Stroke.

“Cigarettes, among other tobacco products, are the only products that
when used as directed are still guaranteed to do harm,” said Dr. David A.
Meyerson, director of cardiology consultative services at Johns Hopkins
University Bayview Medical Center, and a spokesman for the American Heart
Association.

“There are four major reasons why,” Meyerson added. “Smoking disrupts
the cells lining the blood vessels. It increases blood fibrogen levels,
which makes blood more likely to clot. It increases the stickiness of
platelets, the cells that form blood clots, and it also decreases the
body's natural clot-dissolving mechanism.”

And young women who might be unconcerned about smoking's link to stroke
should also know that it causes premature aging, Meyerson said.

The new study is valuable “because of its size and its ethnic
diversity,” he said. “We see broadly how it applies to all young
women.”

About 20 percent of young American women are smokers, the report
noted.

Cole said a similar study on young men is planned.

Another report in the same issue of the journal dealt with stroke and
another subject of interest to young women — and men as well: fat around
the waist. A study of 1,137 German adults found that measures of
“abdominal adiposity” were strongly associated with the risk of stroke and
transient ischemic attacks, which are momentary stoppages of blood flow to
the brain.

Waist fat was a better indicator of stroke risk than body mass index, a
standard measure of obesity, said the report from neurologists at Saxon
Hospital Arnsdorf. Better diet and more exercise were recommended as
corrective measures.

More information

Risk factors for stroke, including smoking, are described by the American Heart Association.