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Coronary Artery Disease Smokers have early development of coronary artery disease and abnormal lipid levels, possible precursors of heart disease. .
Dental Problems. Tobacco use by adolescents is associated with early signs of periodontal degeneration and with lesions in the mouth that can develop into oral cancers. .
Mental Health Effects. Many adolescent smokers report mental health effects, such as nervousness and depression, and tend to engage in more high-risk behaviors than adolescents who do not smoke. .
Health-Damaging Behaviors. Tobacco is associated with a range of health-damaging behaviors, including an increased risk of being involved in fights, engaging in high-risk sexual behavior, and using alcohol and other drugs. .
Negative Effects on Quality of Life. Smoking affects a young woman's quality of life - leading to bad breath, wrinkled skin, stained teeth, and other negative effects that influence how she looks and feels. .
Long-Term Health Effects of Smoking Include:.
Cancer. Women who smoke have at least a 10 times greater likelihood of developing lung cancer than nonsmoking women. The increase in lung cancer among women parallels the increase in smoking in women over the past six decades. Between 1960 and 1990, the death rate from lung cancer among women increased by more than 400 percent, and the rate is continuing to increase. In 1987, lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the number one cause of cancer deaths among American women. In 1995, lung cancer killed 62,000 women; of those deaths, 47,182 (76.1 percent) are attributable to smoking. In addition to lung cancer, tobacco use is a major risk factor for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, bladder, and cervix. .
Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases. Cigarette smoking greatly increases a woman's chance of developing cardiovascular diseases. Smoking by women in the United States is associated with almost as many deaths from heart disease as from lung cancer, more than 61,000 each year.
