Smoking Increases A Woman’s Risk For Cervical Cancer, Say Most Studies
As the Surgeon General’s rather understated warning on packs of cigarettes states, smoking may be detrimental to your health. The familiar connection between cigarette smoke and diseases like lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease has been well established. Perhaps less well recognized is the effect of smoking on cervical cancer.
Numerous research studies over the past decade report a higher risk for cervical cancer in women who smoke. While the data is not completely consistent as to how much of an effect smoking has or how smoking promotes cancer in cervical cells, the message seems clear. Smoking increases a woman’s risk for cervical cancer.
“Women who smoke are about as twice as likely to get cervical cancer as women who don’t smoke,” states the American Cancer Society. Other sources report up to a seven-fold increase in risk for cervical cancer for smokers, and one study from Sweden found up to a 14-fold increased risk from smoking.
As a risk factor, smoking doesn’t cause cervical cancer. The clear cause of nearly all cases of the disease is an infection with one of a few specific types of human papilloma virus (HPV).
