While the evidence is unavoidably clear that smoking cigarettes increases a person’s risk of having a stroke, there is relatively little data that identifies the dosage amount that places a smoker in the danger zone. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have just announced the results of their study which quantified smoking habits with risk of stroke in young women between the ages of 15 and 49.

Dr. John Cole led his research team through interviews with 466 women between 15 and 49 who’d had a stroke and 604 who had not. Smoking habits varied from smokers to former smokers to nonsmokers.

The research revealed that the more a young woman smoked cigarettes, the greater her risk of suffering a stroke. Smoking just one cigarette can double the risk. Risk was assessed as follows:

• 1 to 10 cigarettes each day = 2.2 times greater risk
• 21 to 39 cigarettes = 4.3 times
• 2 packs or more = 9.1 times greater risk of having a stroke than a nonsmoker’s risk

The study’s findings also emphasize the value in quitting the smoking habit. Risk of stroke was found to drop in only 30 days after quitting, with a return to normal risk in just two years.

Cole, assistant professor of neurology at the Baltimore medical school, has published the findings of his study in the August 15 issue of the journal, Stroke.