The latest research from Norway has suggested that women smokers are at a higher risk of heart disease than men.

Statistics show that women usually develop heart disease much later than men but if they smoke the risk is greater than a male’s.

And those women who do smoke suffer heart attacks more than 12 years earlier than women who are non-smokers. For a man, the gap is six years earlier for a smoker than for a non-smoker.

The study, carried out the Innlandet Hospital Trust in Lillehammer, Norway, was based on 1,787 patients admitted for a first heart attack. The results showed that men suffered their first attack on average at the age of 72 if they were a non-smoker and at 64 years if they smoked. For women, the first heart attack was at 81 years of age for a non-smoker and 66 for a smoker.

By adjusting for heart risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, the difference for men was found to be six years and women 14 years.

The female hormone ‘oestrogen’ was suspected as protection against heart disease in women as it raised good cholesterol levels and relaxes blood vessel walls which lowers the possibility of a blockage.

Researchers said that a woman who smokes may go through the menopause earlier which leaves them less protection against a heart attack. Doctors are also expecting to see an increase in heart disease among women.

Smokers should consider quitting as soon as possible. Alternative medicine provides a number of useful smoking cessation therapies as well as methods to combat heart disease such as herbal medicine.

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