AUTHOR=Yang Li , Zhou Yunchun , Jiang Mingyan , Wen Wendy , Guo Yanfang , Pakhale Smita , Wen Shi Wu 

TITLE=Why Female Smokers Have Poorer Long-Term Health Outcomes than Male Smokers: The Role of Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy

JOURNAL=Public Health Reviews

VOLUME=45

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/public-health-reviews/articles/10.3389/phrs.2024.1605579

DOI=10.3389/phrs.2024.1605579

ISSN=2107-6952

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objectives:</bold> Women’s health status is better than men but the opposite is true for female smokers who usually have poorer long-health outcomes than male smokers. The objectives of this study were to thoroughly reviewed and analyzed relevant literature and to propose a hypothesis that may explain this paradox phenomenon.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We conducted a search of literature from three English databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar) from inception to 13 November 2023. A combination of key words and/or subject headings in English was applied, including relevant terms for cigarette smoking, sex/gender, pregnancy, and health indicators. We then performed analysis of the searched literature.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Based on this review/analysis of literature, we proposed a hypothesis that may explain this paradox phenomenon: female smokers have worse long-term health outcomes than male smokers because some of them smoke during pregnancy, and the adverse effects of cigarette smoking during pregnancy is much stronger than cigarette smoking during non-pregnancy periods.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Approval of our pregnancy-amplification theory could provide additional evidence on the adverse effect on women’s long-term health outcomes for cigarette smoking during pregnancy.</p>