Two studies have found that women who smoke are twice as likely to develop premenstrual syndrome over the next two to four years and those with a particular gene mutation linked to breast cancer may further increase their risk. In the first study, Dr. Elizabeth R. Bertone-Johnson of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her colleagues found that women between the ages of 27 to 44 years who smoked were twice as likely to develop premenstrual syndrome over the next two to four years, especially hormonally-related symptoms like backaches, bloating, breast tenderness, and acne. Bertone-Johnson said, "Our findings lend further support to the idea that smoking increases the risk of moderate to severe PMS, and provides another reason for women, especially adolescents and young women, not to smoke."
The report in the American Journal of Epidemiology noted that up to 20% of women have PMS severe enough to affect their relationships and interfere with their normal activities. In the study they analyzed data from the Nurses' Health Study II, which has been following 116,678 US registered nurses since 1989 and looked at a subset of women who were PMS-free during the first two years of the study, compared 1,057 who did go on to develop PMS to 1,968 who did not. They found that those who were current smokers were 2.1 times more likely to report PMS within the next two to four years as compared to non-smokers.
"Our findings do not suggest that this is entirely due to the fact that women who start smoking at younger ages smoke for more years than those starting when they are older. Additional research on the impact of smoking at different times in women's lives is needed," Bertone-Johnson said.
"Previous studies suggest that smoking may alter levels of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and other hormones, many of which may be involved in the development of PMS. Some studies have found that smokers have shorter and more irregular menstrual cycles than non-smokers. Smoking may also lower levels of vitamin D in the body, which also may increase a woman's risk of developing PMS."
The second study was undertaken by lead researcher Dr. Michael Swift, of the Disease Insight Research Foundation in Ardsley, New York. The researchers studied women with an A-T mutation or the ataxia-telangiectasia gene found in at least 1 % of the population and the women who carry this mutation are at a higher risk of developing breast cancer. The study used data on 859 women who had been enrolled in a long term A-T gene study between 1971 and 1999 and all of whom had a family member affected by the A-T gene. Blood and tissue tests had confirmed that all 859 women carried the A-T mutation. In this group the researchers found that 21 % of the non smokers developed breast cancer by the age of 80 while among the smokers 80 % had developed the disease. 16 % of the non smokers who did not carry the A-T gene mutation developed breast cancer before 80 years while in the smokers it was 20 %, which was an insignificant difference. "Women who know they carry an A-T mutation and are still smoking should certainly get off of it," Swift said.
This study was reported in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
