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Journal Article

Citation

Nichols HB, Harlow BL. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2004; 58(5): 402-406.

Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15082739

PMCID

PMC1732752

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between childhood abuse and becoming a smoker. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Boston, Massachusetts. PARTICIPANTS: 722 women aged 36-45 years who completed the baseline questionnaire for the Harvard study of moods and cycles and the survey of interpersonal relationships. MAIN RESULTS: Women who experienced either physical or sexual abuse as a child were 40% more likely to begin smoking compared with women with no history of abuse (95% CI 1.0 to 2.0). Virtually all of this association was confined to sexual abuse (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.1 to 4.3) as compared with physical abuse (OR = 0.7, 95% CI 0.7 to 1.6). However, the joint effect of experiencing both physical and sexual abuse as a child led to a 3.5-fold increase in the likelihood of becoming a smoker (95% CI 1.3 to 9.4) compared with women who did not experience any childhood abuse after adjustment for religion, social class, and poverty. CONCLUSIONS: Women who experience childhood abuse, even in the absence of depression, are at increased risk of becoming cigarette smokers.


Language: en

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