Women who have smoked for twenty years or more have twice the risk, compared with men, to develop a type of skin cancer which can branch out to other body organs, says the British newspaper The Daily Mail .
The publication notes that these results come from the investigation of a U.S. team that analyzed the relationship between smoking and skin cancers which are not melanoma, including squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
The SCC has a high risk of spreading from one organ to another. Often develops in the face, around the ears or lips, and is able to erode and completely destroy the nose or ears if not treated properly.
In the study, the smoking history of participants was analyzed and compared with the control group.
698 participants were asked about their habits related to smoking in terms of how many years they smoked, how many cigarettes per day and when they had stopped, in the case of those who had quit.
The results showed that the risk of disease increases according to the number of cigarettes smoked per day and total years smoked, most of these associations proved to be statistically significant.
What drew the attention of the specialists was the relationship between SCC and sex: disease present showed twice the risk for women who had smoked for over twenty years, compared with men.
According to the author of this study, Dr. Dana Rollison, at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, it is unclear why women smokers have twice the risk, but other investigations have noted that they have a higher activity of CYP enzyme in the lungs. This enzyme is responsible for metabolizing most of the nicotine.
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