Adverse Effects of Smoking on Peak Bone Mass May Be Attenuated by Higher Body Mass Index in Young Female Smokers

Smoking is associated with postmenopausal bone loss and fracture, but the effect of smoking on bone in younger women is unclear. Peak bone mass is an important determinant for fracture risk; therefore, our aim was to evaluate the association between smoking and bone mass in 25-year-old women, specifically the influence of daily cigarette consumption and total exposure, duration, age at starting smoking, and time since smoking cessation on bone density and fracture risk. Smoking and bone mineral density (BMD) data were available for 1,054 women from the PEAK-25 cohort. Analyses comparing current smokers with women who never smoked were performed using number of cigarettes per day, pack-years, smoking duration, age smoking started, and, for former smokers, age at quitting. BMD did not differ between never, former, and current smokers; and the relative fracture risk in smokers was not significant (relative risk [RR] = 1.2, 95 % confidence interval 0.8–1.9). Among current smokers, BMD decreased with a dose response as cigarette consumption increased (femoral neck p = 0.037). BMD was not significantly lower in young women who had smoked for long duration or started smoking early (p = 0.07–0.64); long duration and early start were associated with higher body mass index (BMI; p = 0.038). Lower BMD persisted up to 24 months after smoking cessation (p = 0.027–0.050), becoming comparable to never-smokers after 24 months. Hip BMD was negatively associated with smoking and dose-dependent on cigarette consumption. Smoking duration was not associated with BMD, although young women with a long smoking history had higher BMI, which might attenuate the adverse effects from smoking.