How can smoking affect your health?
Smoking raises your risk of heart disease and stroke
Women who smoke greatly increase their risk of heart disease (the leading killer among women) and stroke. The risk goes up with the number of cigarettes smoked and the length of time a woman has been smoking. Even though most of the women who die of heart disease are past menopause, smoking increases the risk more in younger women than in older women. Studies suggest that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of heart disease even more among younger women who are also taking birth control pills.