Smoking cessation and decreased risk of stroke in women

Abstract

Objective: To prospectively examine the relationship of time since stopping smoking with risk of stroke in middle-aged women.

Design: An ongoing prospective cohort of women with 12 years' follow-up data (1976 to 1988), in which information on smoking habits was updated every 2 years by postal questionnaire.

Population studied: A total of 117,006 female registered nurses aged 30 to 55 years in 1976 and free of coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer at baseline.

Main outcome measures: Incident strokes (fatal and nonfatal), further subdivided into ischemic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and cerebral hemorrhage.

Results: The age-adjusted relative risk of total stroke among current smokers compared with never smokers was 2.58 (95% confidence interval, 2.08 to 3.19). The corresponding relative risk among former smokers was 1.34 (95% confidence interval, 1.04 to 1.73). For total and ischemic stroke, the excess risks among former smokers largely disappeared from 2 to 4 years after cessation. The same patterns of decline were observed regardless of number of cigarettes smoked, the age at starting, or the presence of other risk factors for stroke.

Conclusions: The risk of suffering among cigarette smokers declines soon after cessation and the benefits are independent of the age at starting and the number of cigarettes smoked per day.