[Does exposure to cigarette smoke influence girls maturation?]

A study of of 26008 school-girls in three biggest cities of Upper Silesia, revealed that 76% of the girls were passively exposed to tobacco smoke by their smoking parents. In the present paper it is shown that the age at menarche of the daughters of smoking mothers is lower than the age at menarche of daughters of mothers who do not smoke. This effect appears to be independent of the girl's family size, economic situation of the family or parental education. Similar influence of smoking father on the menarcheal age of the daughters could be detected only in groups of families with high SES.