Women smokers, higher risk of sudden death

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EDMONTON, Alberta, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Longtime women smokers are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer sudden cardiac death than non-smokers, a researcher in Canada says.

Dr. Roopinder Sandhu, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, who conducted the study as a visiting scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the study involved 101,018 women who took part in the Nurses' Health Study. In 30 years of tracking, 351 cases of sudden cardiac death were reported, WebMD reported.

Sandhu and colleagues found the amount and duration of cigarette smoking was strongly associated with the women's risk of sudden cardiac death.

The study, published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, found women who smoked 25 cigarettes a day or more had more than three times the risk of sudden cardiac death than women who didn't smoke.