title: Cigarette smoking and the degree of maturation of the vaginal squamous epithelium in postmenopausal women.
abstract: To determine the effects of cigarette smoking on vaginal squamous epithelium in postmenopausal women, we studied the vaginal smear patterns of 199 healthy postmenopausal non-smokers and 41 healthy postmenopausal smokers, with a mean age of 56 years. A statistically significant difference to the hazard of smokers was found in the percentage of smears manifesting absence of maturation of vaginal squamous cells. A high incidence of atrophic-type vaginal smears in the group of smokers was also found independent of postmenopausal age. In the group of non-smokers, there was a statistically significant difference between the cytologic patterns of smears of women who were in the early postmenopausal age (<10 years) and those many years after (> or =10 years). Finally our data suggest that smokers had an earlier menopause, on average 2.4 years sooner than non-smokers. Cigarette smoking has an effect on vaginal squamous epithelium, but pathophysiology still remains unclarified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Regional Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Greece.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karamanidis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tamiolakis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koutsougeras
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tripsanas
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Retzos
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karidis
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liberis
mesh_terms: D001284:Atrophy; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D012907:Smoking / Q000473:pathology*; D014621:Vagina / Q000473:pathology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears