Objective: To examine if the excess ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality risk among smokers differs between women and men in different socioeconomic positions.
Methods: Data from 11,838 women and 10,962 men aged 44-69 years who were free from any diagnosed cardiovascular diseases at baseline (1995-1997) were utilized. Those who reported current smoking (any kind of daily tobacco use) were compared with non smokers (former and never smokers). The analyses were stratified by gender and two educational groups (primary level education and secondary/tertiary level education). The association between smoking and IHD mortality was assessed by using Cox proportional hazard model.
Findings: 49 women and 118 men died of IHD during 10 year follow-up. After adjustment for age, diabetes, marital status, behavioural (inactive physical level and excessive alcohol use), metabolic (high waist to-hip ratio, hypertension, high total cholesterol and low high density lipoprotein) and psychosocial factors (anxiety and depression) hazard risk ratio (HR, 95%CI) for IHD mortality in female smokers with primary level education was 2.91 (1.37-6.19) and 2.75 (1.07-7.07) in female smokers with higher level education. The corresponding excess IHD mortality risk among male smokers was 3.04 (1.42-6.48) and 2.79 (1.09-7.19).
Conclusion: Interpretation must be done with caution because of the small numbers of IHD deaths in women. Still, excess IHD mortality risk among smokers does not seem to differ between educational groups.