current smokers was 47.6% of men and 46.8% of women.
Smoking increased the risk of STEMI in all patients, regardless of age or gender, but the risk was higher in women than in men, the study found.
The largest risk difference between men and women smokers was among those aged 50 to 64, but the highest risk increase in both genders was among those aged 18 to 49.
Women in this age group who smoked had a more than 13 times higher risk of STEMI than those who didn’t smoke. Men in this age group who smoked had an 8.6 times higher risk than nonsmokers.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
There are several possible reasons why smoking leads to a much greater risk of STEMI in women than in men, according to the authors. One is that smoking may lower women’s levels of