Father’s Smoking May Lead to Daughter’s Earlier Menopause

The smoking habits of fathers may influence the timing of their daughters’ menopause, a new study suggests. Japanese researchers found that a woman whose father smoked, while her mother was pregnant with her, may go through menopause about a year earlier than a woman whose father did not smoke.

Previous studies have shown that a woman’s own smoking habits, as well as her partner’s, can also influence the timing of menopause, Reuters reports. The new study found that a father’s smoking has a greater effect on the timing of a woman’s menopause than her partner’s smoking, lead researcher Dr. Misao Fukuda, of the M&K Health Institute in Ako, Japan, told Reuters.

The study included more than 1,000 women who were past menopause. The researchers found that women whose fathers smoked while their mother was pregnant hit menopause about 13 months earlier, than those whose fathers didn’t smoke. The findings are published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.