Smoking as a risk factor for lower extremity peripheral artery disease in women compared to men: A systematic review and meta-analysis

by Ying Xu, Anna Louise Pouncey, Zien Zhou, Mark Woodward, Katie Harris

To investigate whether the relationship between smoking and peripheral artery disease (PAD) differs by sex (PROSPERO CRD42022352318).

PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched (3 March 2024) for studies reporting associations between smoking and PAD in both sexes, at least adjusted for age. Data were pooled using random effects. Between-study heterogeneity was examined using I² statistic and Cochran’s Q test. Newcastle-Ottowa Scale was adopted for quality assessment.

Four cohort studies (n = 2,117,860, 54.4% women) and thirteen cross-sectional studies (n = 230,436, 59.9% women) were included. In cohort studies, former and current smokers had higher risk of PAD than never smokers. Compared to those who never or previously smoked, women current smokers (relative risk (RR) 5.30 (95% confidence interval 3.17, 8.87)) had higher excess risk of PAD than men (RR 3.30 (2.46, 4.42)), women-to-men ratio of RR 1.45 (1.30, 1.62)(I² = 0%, p = 0.328). In cross-sectional studies, risk of PAD was higher among former and current compared to never smokers, more so in men, women-to-men ratios of odds ratio: 0.64 (0.46, 0.90)(I² = 30%, p = 0.192), 0.63 (0.50, 0.79)(I² = 0%, p = 0.594), respectively. For both sexes, risk of PAD was higher among current smokers compared to those who were not currently smoking. Cohort studies and five cross-sectional studies were of good quality, scoring 6 to 8 of a possible maximum 9 points. Eight cross-sectional studies scored 2 to 5.

Further research is required to elucidate sex differences in the relationships between smoking and PAD, as the current evidence is limited and mixed. Tobacco-control programs should consider both sexes.