Smoking and hormone-related disorders.

Through its antiestrogenic effect, cigarette smoking is linked to a variety of hormone-related disorders, both benign and malignant. Diseases that depend on this hormone for growth and development tend to be less common among smokers, such as endometrial cancer and uterine fibroids. Some normal, estrogen-dependent physiologic processes are affected by smoking, making osteoporosis and premature menopause more common among women who smoke. In other disorders, the link between sex hormone levels, cigarette smoking, and disease development is less clear.