Cigarette smoking and the degree of maturation of the vaginal squamous epithelium in postmenopausal women.

To determine the effects of cigarette smoking on vaginal squamous epithelium in postmenopausal women, we studied the vaginal smear patterns of 199 healthy postmenopausal non-smokers and 41 healthy postmenopausal smokers, with a mean age of 56 years. A statistically significant difference to the hazard of smokers was found in the percentage of smears manifesting absence of maturation of vaginal squamous cells. A high incidence of atrophic-type vaginal smears in the group of smokers was also found independent of postmenopausal age.