Smoking leads to earlier menopause (along with the other problems)

It’s been long recognised that smokers go through the menopause earlier than non-smokers, and a recent large study confirms this. The lead author is quoted as saying “‘General consensus is that earlier menopause is likely to be associated with the larger number and higher risk of postmenopausal health problems, such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.”

Of course, smoking causes other problems such as cancer of the lung, mouth, nose, throat, oesophagus, pancreas, kidney, liver, bladder, bowel, ovary, cervix, bone marrow and stomach; and lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema; and poor blood circulation in feet and hands, which can lead to pain and, in severe cases, gangrene and amputation. Ouch.

Never too late to quit: according to the Quit website, “After fifteen years your risk of heart attack and stroke is close to that of a person who has never smoked.”