A new study conducted by US researchers revealed that women who smoke are just as likely to develop lung cancer as men who smoke.

Earlier studies have examined the relation between gender and the chances of lung cancer, but they have produced inconsistent results.

The study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute analyzed data from over 450,000 American men and women found no gender difference.

The research published in the journal ‘Lancet Oncology’ found a difference of only 0.9% between the chances for men and that for women.

The latest UK statistics showed that around 23% of men and 21% of women were cigarette smokers in the year 2006.

Every year, around 30,000 people die from lung cancer in the UK.

The researchers’ studied data on smoking habits, diet, exercise and alcohol usage for 279,214 men and 184,623 women between the age of 50 and 71 living in eight US states.

After that, the researchers viewed their chances of having lung cancer.

The results showed that women smokers were slightly less likely (0.9 times) than men who smoked similar quantities to have the disease.

Current smokers of more than two packs per day were about 50 times more likely to develop the disease then never smokers.

The research group, led by Dr. Neal Freedman, stated that their study benefited from its size, giving trustworthy results.

They conclude, “Our findings suggest that women are not more susceptible than men to the carcinogenic effects of cigarette smoking in the lung.”

“Vigorous efforts should continue to be directed at eliminating smoking in both sexes” they added.

Andy McEwen, assistant director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK’s Health Behaviour Research Centre, stated, “Smoking has a devastating effect on the health of people trapped by their tobacco addiction.”

“The risk of a smoker, male or female, developing lung cancer is 15 times greater than that of a non-smoker and smoking continues to be the biggest preventable cause of death for men and women.”

“Smoking accounts for the vast majority of cases of lung cancer worldwide. More has to be done to help all smokers to quit if we are to prevent future deaths from lung cancer.”