The bad news on Smoking and Early Menopause

by
Anna Mooney.

Even more reason to stub it out now: smoking exacerbates the effects of estrogen deficiency in women who experience menopause eralier.

A Swedish study following  25,000 women for 16 years has concluded that women who experienced menopause later (60) lived on average 1.3 years longer than women who had menopause at 40. Current smokers shortened their lifespan by 2.5 years compares to their non-smoker or former smoker counterparts.

The study, published this summer in Menopause, the journal of the American Menopause Society, points out that smoking worsens the effects of estrogen deficiency in women who go through menopause at a younger age.

While study wasn’t designed to prove cause and effect, it “provides credible evidence that women can proactively work to delay menopause through various lifestyle choices such as stopping smoking,”  explained Dr. Wulf Utian, medical director of the North American Menopause Society.

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