Women find it harder to quit smoking

Arecent study from the University of Burgundy found that even though women smoke fewer cigarettes than men but they are less likely to quit. The research was recently presented at ESC Congress 2021. Study author Ingrid Allagbe, a PhD student at the University of Burgundy, Dijon, France said, "In our study, women who used smoking cessation services had higher rates of overweight or obesity, depression, and anxiety compared to men and kicked the habit less often. Our findings highlight the need to provide smoking cessation interventions tailored to the needs of women."

This study compared characteristics and abstinence rates of men and women visiting smoking cessation services between 2001 and 2018 in France. Data were obtained from the nationwide database CDT-net. A nicotine dependence scale was used to classify participants as having mild, moderate, or severe dependence.

Participants provided information on the number of cigarettes smoked each day. A total of 37,949 smokers were included in the study, of whom 16,492 (43.5 per cent) were women.

The average number of cigarettes smoked daily was 23 in women and 27 in men.

Some 56 per cent of women had a severe nicotine dependence compared to 60 per cent of men. Abstinence was less common in women (52 per cent) than men (55 per cent). Allagbe said, "The findings suggest that despite smoking fewer cigarettes and being less nicotine dependent than men, women find it more difficult to quit. Possible contributors could be the higher prevalence of anxiety, depression and overweight or obesity among women. It has previously been reported that women may face different barriers to smoking cessation related to fear of weight gain, sex hormones, and mood."