Smoking and Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Women

Does increased sympathetic nerve activity put women smokers at greater risk for heart attacks? Yes, according to a new study by Middlekauff and colleagues published recently in AJP-Heart and Circ. In this podcast Associate Editor Irving Zucker interviews senior author Holly Middlekauff (University of California-Los Angeles) and leading expert Vaughan Macefield (University of Western Sydney) about this insightful work which explores how baroreflex control of sympathetic nerve activity is impaired in women smokers. Listen as we explore how normal sympathetic nerve activity fluctuations associated with menstrual cycle hormonal changes in premenopausal women are altered by smoking, as well as second-hand smoke, and chronic smoke inhalation.

Holly R. Middlekauff, Jeanie Park, Harsh Agrawal, Jeffrey A. Gornbein Abnormal sympathetic nerve activity in women exposed to cigarette smoke: a potential mechanism to explain increased cardiac risk Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published November 15, 2013, doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00502.2013.