Patterns of smoking and menopause-specific quality of life: smoking duration matters more

Abstract

Evidence about the association of quantity of cigarettes smoked and duration of smoking with quality of life in menopause is sparse. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between smoking patterns and menopause-specific quality of life. This cross-sectional study included 513 consecutive midlife women at two primary health care centers in Belgrade, Serbia. Collection of data was carried out from February 2014 to January 2015, using three questionnaires: socio-epidemiologic questionnaire, Menopause-specific Quality of Life questionnaire (MENQOL) and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). Women reported their smoking status (smoker, former smoker, non-smoker), the length of time spent smoking and quantity of cigarettes smoked per day. There was no difference in proportions of ever smokers compared to never smokers. However, there were more women who were current nonsmokers than current smokers. A linear regression model, adjusted for residency district, relationship status, educational level, employment, drinking alcohol, having exercise, age and BDI, showed that longer duration of smoking, but not number of cigarettes smoked per day, was associated with worse Physical domain and total MENQOL score. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis showed that menopausal symptoms as measured by total MENQOL score were significantly less bothersome for women who smoked less than 10 years and significantly more intense in women who smoked 21 to 30 years. Midlife women should be encouraged to quit smoking as soon as possible, preferably before menopause. Strategies to prevent and quit smoking should be prioritized at all levels of health care delivery for women.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at

Keywords:

• Menopause
• quality of life
• smoking
• women

Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Jacqueline Lewis and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for allowing us to adapt the original version of the MENQOL. The authors would like to express our gratitude to the two Community Health Centers in Belgrade (“Palilula” and “Zemun”) for allowing us to conduct this study using their patients and facilities. We would also like to thank all participants for taking interest in our study.

Data availability statement

Dataset which was the base of this study is available on a reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This study did not receive funding.