Women's reasons for smoking are often different than men's. They may smoke because they want help with weight loss. They may think it makes them appear more glamorous, independent, or mature. Young women may smoke simply because that's what their mother's did. Everyone knows cigarettes are bad for them but now, new studies show that smoking is even worse for women than it is for men. Findings show that women appear to be more susceptible to diseases caused by cigarettes' toxic chemicals.

While smoking rates in women continue to decline, some women still need motivation to put down the smokes once and for all. Here, the bad news and good news about women and smoking.

The Bad News:

New studies suggest women smokers develop lung disease earlier than men. In the study, women younger than 60 had worse lung damage from COPD than men younger than 60. The study also suggested that women are susceptible to more lung damage with fewer cigarettes than men, possibly because women have smaller airways.

Smoking causes 80 percent of lung cancer deaths in women in the U.S. each year and has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

Smoking causes more than 90 percent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),emphysema, and chronic bronchitis deaths each year.

More than half of all deaths from COPD occur in women.

Female smokers are nearly 13 times more likely to die from COPD, compared to women who have never smoked...

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