Heavy Women Smokers at Higher Risk of Developing Cancer
Smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day doubles risk of developing Hodgkin's Lymphoma and certain types of bone marrow cancers in women.
The findings of the study are based on the survey of 1.3 million women. Researchers found that over a period of 10 years, 9,000 women developed leukemia or a cancer of the bone marrow. Within the study group, eight out of every 1000 smokers developed the cancer compared to about six out of every 1,000 of the non-smoking group.
“Smoking raises the risk of many types of cancer, not just lung cancer, and also the risk of heart attack and stroke, which many people may not be aware of," said Valerie Beral, one of the study authors and director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University.
A related survey conducted by Cancer Research UK had found that many smokers didn't know that smoking can lead to cancers of the kidney, liver, colon, pancreas, bladder and the ovaries.
The new research shows links of smoking with lymphoma, leukemia and cancers of bone marrow.
In the U.S., at least 1,000 teenagers try their first cigarette each day. Experts say that almost 90 percent of adult smokers are those who had begun smoking as a teenager.
“This is yet another stark reminder of the dangers of smoking. There are only two options to eliminate the illnesses caused by smoking – and they are to help smokers quit and to stop young people from starting to smoke in the first place," said Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control.
A recent study had shown that a majority of smokers regret their habit.
“Reducing the appeal of cigarettes is essential to prevent young people from starting to smoke and so plain packaging of tobacco is the vital next step we need to make. Replacing the slickly designed, brightly coloured cigarette packaging with packs of standard size, shape and colour will give millions of children one less reason to start smoking," King said in a Cancer Research UK press release.
The study is published in the journal British Journal of Cancer.