['Q:', 'How', 'great', 'a', 'health', 'problem', 'is', '‘smoking', 'for', 'women?', 'A;', 'Smoking', 'is', 'the', 'number', 'one', 'health', 'risk', 'for', 'American', 'women.', 'It', 'now', 'appears', 'that', 'a', 'major', 'reason', 'why', 'women', 'live', 'longer', 'than', 'men', 'is', 'the', 'fact', 'that', 'in', 'the', 'past', 'fewer', 'women', 'smoked', 'than', 'men.', 'Because', 'of', 'the', 'increased', 'prevalence', 'of', 'smoking', 'among', 'women,', 'lung', 'cancer', 'is', 'now', 'projected', 'to', 'have', 'surpassed', 'breast', 'cancer', 'as', 'the', 'leading', 'cause', 'of', 'cancer', 'deaths', 'in', 'females.', 'Q:', 'But', 'isn’t', 'lung', 'cancer', 'historically', 'a', 'men’s', 'disease?', 'A:', 'That’s', 'only', 'because', 'women', 'started', 'smoking', 'in', 'large', 'numbers', 'much', 'later', 'than', 'did', 'men', 'during', 'this', 'century.', 'Whereas', 'lung', 'cancer', 'was', 'rare', 'in', 'women', 'before', 'World', 'War', 'II,', 'in', '1985,', '38,600', 'women', 'died', 'of', 'lung', 'cancer;', 'the', 'total', 'was', '87,000', 'for', 'men.', 'The', 'estimates', 'for', '1989', 'are', '49,000', 'female', 'deaths', 'and', '93,000', 'male', 'deaths.', 'Because', 'a', 'larger', 'proportion', 'of', 'men', 'than', 'women', 'have', 'quit', 'smoking,', 'because', 'females', 'now', 'have', 'considerably', 'higher', 'rates', 'of', 'initiation', 'compared', 'to', 'males,', 'and', 'because', 'smoking', 'rates', 'are', 'higher', 'for', 'young', 'women', 'than', 'young', 'men,', 'it', 'is', 'expected', 'that', 'the', 'female-', 'male', 'gap', 'in', 'lung', 'cancer', 'deaths', 'will', 'continue', 'to', 'shrink.', 'Q:', 'And', 'what', 'about', 'heart', 'disease?', 'A:', 'In', 'one', 'recent', 'report,', 'smoking', 'was', 'shown', 'to', 'be', 'the', 'dominant', 'cause', 'of', 'coronary', 'heart', 'disease', 'among', 'young', 'and', 'middle-aged', 'women.', 'As', 'reported', 'in', 'The', 'New', 'England', 'Journal', 'of', 'Medicine,', 'smoking', 'up', 'to', '14', 'cigarettes', 'per', 'day', 'was', 'associated', 'with', 'a', 'two-', 'to', 'threefold', 'increase', 'in', 'the', 'risk', 'of', 'heart', 'disease.', 'Q:', 'What', 'are', 'the', 'specific', 'effects', 'of', 'smoking', 'on', 'pregnancy?', 'A;', 'Women', 'who', 'smoke', 'during', 'pregnancy', 'have', 'a', 'higher', 'rate', 'of', 'spontaneous', 'abortion', '(miscarriage),', 'stillbirth,', 'premature', 'birth,', 'sudden', 'infant', 'death,', 'and', 'low', 'infant', 'birth', 'weight.', 'Although', '18', 'percent', 'of', 'women', 'smokers', 'will', 'quit', 'during', 'pregnancy', 'and', '27', 'percent', 'will', 'cut', 'back,', 'almost', 'all', 'will', 'relapse', 'following', 'birth', 'of', 'their', 'babies.', 'Q:', 'If', 'a', 'mother', 'continues', 'to', 'smoke', 'after', 'her', 'baby', 'is', 'born,', 'won’t', 'this', 'have', 'an', 'effect', 'on', 'the', 'child?', 'A:', 'It', 'most', 'certainly', 'will.', 'Statistics', 'indicate', 'that', 'exposure', 'of', 'children', 'to', 'tobacco', 'smoke', 'in', 'the', 'house', 'can', 'increase', 'the', 'frequency', 'of', 'respiratory', 'infections', 'and', 'respiratory', 'symptoms', 'and', 'can', 'even', 'stunt', 'lung', 'growth.', 'There', 'is', 'also', 'an', 'increased', 'risk', 'of', 'hospitalization', 'for', 'bronchitis', 'and', 'pneumonia.', 'And', 'nicotine', 'is', 'present', 'in', 'breast', 'milk', 'for', 'up', 'to', '5', 'hours', 'after', 'the', 'mother', 'smokes', 'a', 'cigarette.', 'Q:', 'How', 'do', 'oral', 'contraceptives', 'and', 'smoking', 'interact?', 'A:', 'Cigarette', 'smoking', 'increases', 'the', 'risk', 'of', 'such', 'serious', 'cardiovascular', 'side', 'effects', 'from', 'oral', 'contraceptive', 'use', 'as', 'stroke,', 'heart', 'attack,', 'and', 'sudden', 'blockage', 'of', 'blood', 'vessels', '(thromboembolism).', 'Risk', 'increases', 'with', 'age', 'and', 'with', 'number', 'of', 'cigarettes', 'smoked', 'per', 'day', 'and', 'is', 'quite', 'marked', 'in', 'women', 'more', 'than', '35', 'years', 'of', 'age.', 'Q:', 'What', 'can', 'be', 'done', 'for', 'women', 'who', 'smoke', 'at', 'the', 'workplace?', 'A:', 'It', 'is', 'important,', 'first,', 'to', 'find', 'smoking', 'cessation', 'programs', 'at', 'the', 'workplace', 'that', 'address', 'issues', 'specific', 'to', 'women.', 'Second,', 'female', 'employees', 'should', 'be', 'educated', 'about', 'how', 'they', 'are', 'being', 'targeted', 'specifically', 'by', 'the', 'tobacco', 'industry;', 'how', 'they', 'are', 'uniquely', 'at', 'risk;', 'and', 'how', 'environmental', 'tobacco', 'smoke', 'affects', 'them,', 'their', 'coworkers,', 'and', 'families.', 'Third,', 'women', 'who', 'smoke', 'should', 'be', 'given', 'strong,', 'practical', 'advice', 'about', 'alternative', 'methods', 'of', 'weight', 'and', 'stress', 'control.', 'For', 'more', 'information', 'about', 'tobacco', 'use', 'and', 'advice', 'on', 'smoking', 'cessation,', 'call', 'the', 'Cancer', 'Information', 'Service', 'at', '1-800-4-CANCER', '(in', 'Hawaii', 'on', 'Oahu', 'call', '524-1234;', 'call', 'collect', 'from', 'neighboring', 'islands).', ' ', 'TIONAL', 'ANG', 'INSTITUTE', 'Po', 'This', 'Q&A', 'sheet', 'was', 'produced', 'by', 'the', 'National', 'Cancer', 'Institute', 'in', 'cooperation', 'with', 'the', 'Smoking', 'Policy', 'Institute', '(P.O.', 'Box', '20271,', 'Seattle,', 'SMOKING', 'POLICY', 'RE', 'INSTITUTE', 'WA', '98102,', 'phone', '206-324-4444).', 'TIMN', '403488']