Researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have found that female smokers are twice as likely to develop premenstrual syndrome (PMS), Reuters Health reported Nov. 15.

Smoking has been shown to affect levels of several different hormones, and earlier research has suggested that women with PMS are more likely to be smokers, the researchers add.

In the latest study, researchers looked at data from the Nurses' Health Study II on women who did not have PMS during the first two years of the study, and compared that to data on women who later developed PMS (1,057) and those who did not (1,968). They found that female smokers ages 27 to 44 were 2.1 times as likely as nonsmokers to self-report PMS within the next two to four years.

Women who began smoking in adolescence were at greater risk, with the risk increasing along with the amount the women smoked, the authors said.

"Our findings lend further support to the idea that smoking increases the risk of moderate to severe PMS, and provides another reason for women, especially adolescents and young women, not to smoke," said lead author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.

The findings were published in the Oct. 15, 2008 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.