[Osteoporosis and smoking]

Smoking is one of the greatest risk factors for human health. Recent meta-analyses on the effects of smoking on the bone revealed that current smokers sustained decreased bone mass and increased fracture risk at age 50 years and older. These relationships remained significant after adjustment for the effects of age, years since menopause and body weight regardless of sex. The effect of smoking on bone mass was observed consistently over the skeletal sites and that on fracture risk was seen all the skeletal sites except the forearm. Ex-smoker ran the intermediate risk between non-smoker and current smoker, which implies beneficial effect of quitting smoking. It has recently been indicated that intrauterine exposure to tobacco smoke retards skeletal growth resulting in increased risk for fracture later in life, which should be confirmed by further studies.