An article in the new journal of the American Heart Association says smoking increases the risk for strokes in women. Jennifer Crome at the Iowa chapter of the Heart Association says it includes some good news. It shows smoking cause bleeding strokes, women can help prevent them by quitting smoking. Crome says heart attack and stroke hasn’t been as extensively studied in women as it has in men, but new research is changing that. Smoking’s a risk factor for stroke and heart disease, the number and number one killers. The more women smoke, the higher their risk, Crome says, and the link is clear. Compared to women who never smoked, those who lit up fifteen or more cigarettes a day have an increased risk of all kinds, including cerebral and subarachnoid stroke. The study appears in “Stroke: The Journal of the American Heart Association.”