Smoking and trajectories of dysmenorrhoea among young Australian women.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of cigarette smoking at baseline and trajectories of dysmenorrhoea in a large sample of Australian women.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study.


METHODS
Australian (population-based survey).


METHODS
A total of 9067 young women, with at least three measures of dysmenorrhoea, randomly sampled from the national Medicare database and followed up from 2000 to 2012.


METHODS
Trajectories of dysmenorrhoea.


RESULTS
At baseline, approximately 25% reported dysmenorrhoea and 26% were current smokers. Four trajectory groups were identified for dysmenorrhoea: normative (42%), late onset (11%), recovering (33%) and chronic (14%), with the chronic group showing high probabilities of reporting dysmenorrhoea over time. Compared with never-smokers, a significantly higher odds of being in the chronic group was detected for smokers, with ORs being 1.33 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.68) for ex-smokers and 1.41 (95% CI 1.17 to 1.70) for current smokers, after adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle and reproductive factors. An inverse relationship was identified for earlier age of smoking initiation, with the respective ORs of 1.59 (95% CI 1.18 to 2.15), 1.50 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.90) and 1.26 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.55) for initiation of smoking ≤13, 14-15 or ≥16 years. No consistent relationship was evident between smoking behaviour and the odds of being in the other trajectory groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking and early initiation of smoking are associated with increased risk of chronic dysmenorrhoea. The immediate adverse health effects of smoking provide further support for smoking prevention programme to target young women, especially teenagers.
Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Population Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Hong
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9251-6669
H
Ju
Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Population Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Mark
M
Jones
Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Population Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Gita D
GD
Mishra
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008390:Markov Chains; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Prevention; Primary Health Care; Priority/special populations; Public policy