Study: Passive smoking leads to infertility

JEDDAH: Passive smoking is associated with infertility and early menopause in women, according to a recent study.
The researchers said that compared to women who never smoked and those who were exposed only to a minimum level of passive smoking, the women who were exposed in a major way were more likely to not fall pregnant and to reach menopause before the age of 50, according to a report in a local publication.
According to Andrew Hyland from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, the administrator of the study, the results of previous studies already found a link between smoking and reproductive health problems in women. “But very few such studies linked passive smoking with infertility and early menopause,” said the study.
Hyland and his research team analyzed data from 88,732 women who participated in the study carried out between 1993 and 1998 when the women were between the ages of 50 and 79.
Based on the questionnaire, 15 percent of the participants who answered the questionnaire at the beginning of the study said they suffered infertility for at least one year, and about 40 percent said they suffered premature menopause before the age of 50.
In comparison with women who never smoked, researchers found that 14 percent of heavy smokers during one period of their lives were more likely to be infertile, while 26 percent said they suffered premature menopause.
Researchers found that heavy smokers suffered early menopause two years before those who never smoked. Eighteen percent of women who never smoked but were exposed to passive smoking were more likely to suffer infertility and premature menopause, the study found.