Smoking, hormone concentrations, and endometrial cancer

This chapter reviews studies on the link between smoking and an endometrial cancer risk, and changes in urinary hormone concentrations that may underlie this smoking-cancer association. The available data suggest that cigarette smoking is associated with a reduced risk of endometrial cancer among current-smokers, mainly among postmenopausal women, and that the association weakens with time since quitting. Studies that examined quantitative measures of exposure to cigarette smoke have shown greater reductions in risk among women who were currentsmokers and smoked either more intensely or for a longer duration than women who smoked relatively less. The mechanisms by which this association may be driven remain unclear.