The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To reveal the influence of smoking on osteoporosis and vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women in Aleppo city.

Methods: We studied the effect of smoking 10 cigarettes or more per day in women compared with non smoker women on bone mineral density in 220 postmenopausal osteoporosis women between 60-75 years of age. Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine measured annually for two years by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry.

Results: At the end of two years, the mean differences in bone mineral loss between the women who smoke 10 cigarettes or more per day and those who do not smoke, were 6.6 percent in the spine more in smoker women. It was noticed that smoking was associated with new vertebral fractures (6.3 percent, vs. 3.3 percent in the non-smoker group), an increased progression of vertebral deformities (42 percent, vs. 31 percent in the non-smoker group), and a reduced loss of height. Conclusion. Smoking progressively decreases the bone mass in the spine, and increases the incidence of vertebral fractures, the progression of vertebral deformities, and height loss in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.