Smoking may raise broken-bone risk
Boston (AP 2/10/94)

Women who smoke run a higher risk of broken bones because smoking reduces bone density, a study shows.

Experts have long noticed a link between cigarettes and broken bones, and new research suggests that smoking robs the bones of their mineral density, making them more likely to fracture.

Researchers based in Australia said the work "provides compelling evidence of an association between smoking and reduced bone density in women."

Other studies have found similar links between smoking and fractures in men. However, brittle bones - what doctors call osteoporosis - are a much greater health hazard for women than for men.

In an editorial published with the latest work in today's New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Charles W. Slemenda of IN University recommended that doctors tell smokers about the damage they are doing to their bones.

Cigarettes' health hazards have already been well-documented. They are the overwhelming cause of lung cancer, which is Americans' leading cancer killer, as well as an important trigger of heart attacks, the country's foremost cause of death.

"Whether the prospect of a dowager's hump or a disability due to a hip fracture will provide a stronger incentive to stop smoking than the prospect of lung cancer or early heart disease is unknown," Slemenda wrote.

The latest study, involving 41 pairs of female twins, was conducted by Drs. John L. Hopper and Ego Seeman of the University of Melbourne.

The doctors calculated that if a woman smokes a pack a day throughout adulthood, by the time she reaches menopause, her bones will be 5-10% less dense than they otherwise would have been. This reduction is enough to increase the risk of a fracture.

The researchers speculate that the reduction is the result of cigarettes' interference with the body's production of estrogen.