Smoking and women
Every year, 6000 women die too early in Australia because of smoking-related illness.

If you're on the pill and you smoke, you're 10 times more likely to develop heart disease than other women on the pill.

The more you smoke, the bigger your risk of getting cervical, uterine and vulvar cancer.

Smoking creates poor fertility and interferes with your cycle – including painful periods, missed periods, PMT and irregular bleeding.

> Long-term effects of tobacco
> Related illnesses

Long-term effects of tobacco include:

• less or no sense of smell and taste
• shortness of breath
• persistent cough
• early face wrinkles (and lots of them)
• damaged heart and arteries
• damaged blood vessels
• increased deposits of cholesterol on your heart and arteries, leading to angina and heart attacks.

> Related illnesses

Smoking gives you a much greater chance of:

• lots of cancers: Lips, tongue, mouth, nose, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, lungs, pancrease, cervix, uterus, bladder and anus.
• colds and chronic bronchitis
• emphysema
• heart disease and heart attacks
• blood clots – called DVTs (deep vein thrombosis)
• stroke
• stomach ulcers

Smoking gives you a much greater chance of cont:

• inflamed gums, periodontitis and loss of teeth
• blindness, from cataracts or macular degeneration
• reduced fertility for both men and women, and impotence for men
• reduced blood flow to your disease, causing peripheral vascular disease and gangrene, and finally amputation.

It's not just about when you die, though.

If you smoke when you're a teenager, you run the risks of your lungs not developing properly.

Long-term smokers suffer more diseases and disability before they die at a younger age. As well as the crippling effects of stroke and lung disease, smoking makes lots of things worse – including arthritis, diabetes, and vision and hearing loss.

> Long-term effects of tobacco
> Queensland Cancer Fund's Health Effects fact sheet