August 30, 2011 - A large European epidemiological study showed that the harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis, one of the driving forces of cardiovascular disease, are greater in women than in men.  The research shows that the amount of tobacco exposure during the entire life significantly correlates with the thickness of carotid arterial walls of both genders. However, the impact is more than doubled in women than in men. Similarly, the effect of the number of cigarettes smoked per day on the progression of the disease over time is more than five-fold in women than in men. Elena Tremoli, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Milan, Italy, and scientific director of the Monzino Cardiology Centre in Milan who led the study, says: “This is a particular relevant finding, especially in view of the fact that educational campaigns carried out in the last years have been less successful in reducing the number of smokers in women than in men”.

For more information, please visit http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233515.php