Las Vegas City Wire

While it may not be earth-shattering news that smoking cigarettes could be the catalyst for an array of respiratory illnesses including throat and lung cancer, researchers at the University of Las Vegas University, Nevada (UNLV), are reporting that there could be a new reason for smokers to be concerned.

A new study has shown that smokers are more susceptible to developing osteoporosis, breaking bones and suffering an early death, a recent UNLV news release said. 

“Smoking is a major risk factor for osteoporosis and risk of fracture,” Qing Wu, a researcher with UNLV’s School of Public Health and Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, and the study's lead author; said in the release. “Men tend to smoke more than women, increasing their risk for osteoporosis, which has traditionally been thought of as a women’s disease.”

The study involved nearly 30,000 different cases of broken bones over the past 30 years in 27 research publications and found that someone who is a smoker has a 37% greater risk of fracturing a bone than someone who does not smoke and has never smoked, the release said. The study, published recently in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, was the first to broaden the scope of scientists beyond examining mainly hip fractures to examining fractures of other parts of the body as well.