Menopause and Smoking

Women who smoke may go through menopause 1 to 3 years sooner than women who do not, a recent paper published in the medical journal Menopause reports. During menopause the ovaries stop releasing eggs, and women cannot become pregnant without medical assistance.

• Women who currently smoke or who quit smoking are more likely to become obese than women who have never smoked. In one US survey, 18.3% of women who never smoked were obese compared to 24.7% of women who had ever smoked.
• Women who currently smoke or who quit smoking are more likely to develop high blood pressure than women who have never smoked. In the same US survey, 9.0% of women who had never smoked developed high blood pressure compared to 10.1% of women who had ever smoked.
• Women who currently smoke or who quit smoking are more likely to develop asthma than women who have never smoked. In the study, 13.5% of women who had never smoked developed asthma compared to 16.2% of women who had ever smoked.
• Women who currently smoke or who quit smoking are more likely to develop diabetes than women who had never smoked. In the study, 2.6% of women who had never smoked developed type 2 diabetes by the age of 45 compared to 2.9% of women who ever smoked.
• Both women who have never smoke and women who quit smoking, however, have higher levels of the protective form of cholesterol, HDL-C.

There is no doubt that smoking is definitely associated with health risks. However, for any individual woman, the increased risk of health problems caused by smoking is minimal. Smoking is associated with significantly higher rates of type 2 diabetes, for instance, but the increased risk is just 1 chance in 300. No study has ever found that smoking definitely causes any disease in any person who smokes. Tens of thousands of studies, however, have found that smoking definitely increases the rate of disease in populations of smokers.

This is not an argument for any to continue smoking. If only because of the expense and the risk of health problems for family members caused by second-hand smoke, smoking cessation is a good thing. Women who smoke, however, do not need to live in fear that they will definitely develop any of the dread diseases associated with smoking. Nor do they need to blame any consequences of early menopause exclusively on smoking. Other factors always figure in.

READ Menopause - Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention

If you are a woman in your reproductive years and you smoke, you will be healthier if you quit.