Association of Smoking Status and Pack Year History With Urinary Urgency Symptoms

This analysis of a large cross-sectional database of women suggests a strong, consistent link between current smoking status and urinary urgency and UUI. By contrast, no increased risk of urgency was attributed to former smoking status. Analysis of pack year history suggests a dose-response relationship wherein ≥ 20 pack years was significantly associated with a higher risk of all urgency outcomes. In models controlling for pack year history, the association of current smoking with urgency remained significant and former smoking remained nonsignificant. Taken together, this supports greater attention being given to the contribution of current smoking to urgency symptoms, and to the need for further longitudinal work to determine if smoking cessation can be a strategy to treat urgency.