Researchers don't know why, but evidence suggests that older women have an easier time quitting smoking than younger people or men in the same age group,  All Headline News reported March 15.

Duke University researchers said that quitting success rates were far better among older women, who also were more likely to remain abstinent. "Something novel may be motivating those older people who do give up smoking -- either they are really motivated to give up the habit or factors outside of their control are influencing the decision to quit," said lead author Heather Whitson, M.D., of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging.

Some of the latter factors could include loss of transportation that makes buying cigarettes more difficult, dementia, financial problems, or moving to housing where smoking is banned.

The study appears in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.