Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Risk of Primary Dysmenorrhea

• Published in: Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 469 - 472
• Main Authors: Parazzini, Fabio, Tozzi, Luca, Mezzopane, Raffaella, Luchini, Laura, Marchini, Maurizio, Fedele, Luigi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Williams & Wilkins and Epidemiology Resources Inc 01-07-1994; Lippincott-Raven Publishers
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age distribution; Alcohol Drinking; Brief Reports; Case control studies; Cigarette smoking; Cigarettes; Dysmenorrhea; Dysmenorrhea - epidemiology; Dysmenorrhea - etiology; Epidemiology; Female; Gynecological examination; Humans; Italy - epidemiology; Pain; Referents; Risk Factors; Smoking - adverse effects; Italy
• ISSN: 1044-3983; 1531-5487
• DOI: 10.1097/00001648-199407000-00016

We analyzed the relation between cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and risk of dysmenorrhea using data from a case-control study in Milan, Italy. With never-smokers as the reference category, the relative risk (RR) of dysmenorrhea was 1.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.9-4.4] for women smoking 10-30 cigarettes per day. The risk of dysmenorrhea increased with duration of smoking in women who smoked for less than 10 years (RR = 1.3, 95% CI = 0.6-2.6) and in those who smoked for 10-20 years (RR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.3-6.2). In comparison with teetotalers, the age-adjusted RR of dysmenorrhea was 0.8 (95% CI = 0.4-1.5) for alcohol drinkers.