Pregnancy could be one of the main reasons women are four times less likely to die from smoking-related illness than men, according to respiratory consultant Geoffrey Zarb.

“Women stop smoking when they get pregnant, or at least the vast majority do. This is a major reason why smoking deaths are less common among women,” he said.

Dr Zarb was reacting to figures tabled in Parliament by Health Minister Konrad Mizzi earlier this week which found that Maltese men were four times more likely to die from smoking than women.

“Quitting is the best way to ensure smoking doesn’t kill you. Pregnancy or planning for one, along with the smoking-related death of a loved one, are the main reasons people stop smoking,” Dr Zarb, a UK-based specialist, said.

Not all women stub out when planning to start a family. A 2010 study by the University of Malta had found that around seven per cent of Maltese women still smoked during pregnancy.

The figures tabled by Dr Mizzi showed nearly 400 men were dying from smoking-related deaths every year in Malta. A total 7,639 people died from smoking-related illnesses since 2000, and nearly 6,000 were men.

Eurostat figures published earlier this month shed even more light on the impact smoking was having on Maltese.

Lung cancer may be the most feared smoking death, probably due to the ‘smoking gives you cancer’ warnings on cigarette packets, however, only nine per cent of Maltese smokers died this way.

A quarter of smoking deaths were the result of pneumonia and bronchitis, accounting for 11 per cent of deaths. Less than one per cent were due to asthma and the rest were listed under “other diseases”.

Maltese smokers have three times the risk of suffering from a heart attack, when compared to non-smokers.