Married Smokers, More Strokes

When both husband and wife smoke, the wife may be more likely to have a stroke than if she were married to a nonsmoker.

The finding appears in the journal Stroke. Adnan Qureshi, MD, and colleagues compared stroke risk among more than 5,300 married women over 8.5 years.

Stroke risk was nearly six times higher for cigarette-smoking wives with cigarette-smoking husbands than for cigarette-smoking women with nonsmoking husbands, write the researchers.

However, nonsmoking women married to smokers didn't have a higher stroke risk in Qureshi's study. The reasons for that aren't clear. Perhaps those husbands made an effort not to expose their wives to secondhand smoke, write the researchers.

Stroke and Smoking

Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death for U.S. men and women. When strokes don't kill, they often cause disability. Getting emergency medical care at the first sign of stroke may help.

Smoking has long been known to raise the risk of heart disease and stroke. The study looked at one aspect of secondhand smoke — exposure to smoke from a spouse.

"If physicians are to make a real impact on reducing stroke risk among their patients, they should not only address their patients' smoking habits, but also those of their spouses or partners," says Qureshi in a news release.
Qureshi is a professor and director of the cerebrovascular program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

About the Study

The women were about 55 years old, on average. They were followed for an average of 8.5 years.

Here's the breakdown on the couples' smoking status: