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We sought to determine the effects of cigarette smoking on menstrual function using prospectively recorded menstrual data in a cohort study of women ages 37-39 years. Eighty-three current smokers and 275 nonsmokers provided menstrual data for analysis. Smoking was associated with decreased duration of bleeding, increased daily amount of bleeding (subjectively scored), and increased duration of dysmenorrhea. These effects were most pronounced in the heaviest smokers. Smoking was not associated with cycle length, but we found some evidence for increased variability of cycle length among heavier smokers. We conclude that cigarette smoking affects menstrual function, most importantly by increasing the duration of dysmenorrhea.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of in utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol on the menstrual cycle., Study Design: This was a prospective cohort study of 198 diethylstilbestrol-exposed women and 162 unexposed controls, recruited from women whose mothers participated in a randomized trial of diethylstilbestrol in pregnancy at the Chicago Lying-In Hospital from 1950 to 1952. Women with severe menstrual abnormality were excluded from the study., Results: Diethylstilbestrol exposure was associated with a statistically significantly decreased duration of menstrual bleeding of approximately one half day and a lower average daily bleeding score (self-reported). We found no evidence for effects of diethylstilbestrol exposure on cycle length or variability of cycle length. Exposure was not related to symptoms of dysmenorrhea., Conclusions: The decreased duration and amount of menstrual bleeding among diethylstilbestrol-exposed women could be due to direct effects on the uterus. The lack of an effect on cycle length and variability appears to indicate that endocrine function is not grossly disturbed in those women studied.