Cigarette smoking can affect women's fertility, men's fertility, sexual function, pregnant women's health and the health of unborn and young children:

1. Fertility
   • Women who smoke may have reduced fertility. Studies found that 38% of non-smokers conceived in their first cycle compared with 28% of smokers. And Smokers were 3.4 times more likely than non-smokers to have taken more than one year to conceive.
   • It was estimated that the fertility of smoking women was 72% that of non- smokers.
   • Cigarette smoking can also affect male-fertility; spermatozoa from smokers are found to be decreased in density and motility compared with that of non-smokers.
   • A new study found that sperm cells carrying Y-chromosome are more vulnerable to the toxins in cigarette smoke.

2. Male sexual impotence
   • Smoking may cause impotence, or penile erection dysfunction in the male smokers.
   • Studies since 1980s found that 40% of impotent men were current smokers compared with 28% of men in the general population.

3. Smoking and oral contraceptives
   • For younger women, smoking and the use of oral contraceptives increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease by tenfold.
   • This effect is more marked in women over 45.

4. Foetal growth and birth weight
   • Babies born to women who smoke are on average 200 grams (8 ozs) lighter than babies born to comparable non-smoking mothers. Low birth weight is associated with higher risks of death and diseases in infancy and early childhood.
   • The more cigarettes a woman smokes during pregnancy, the greater the probable reduction in birth weight.
   • Recent research suggests that cigarettes can reduce the flow of blood in the placenta which limits the amount of nutrients that reach the foetus.

5. Spontaneous abortion
   • The rate of spontaneous abortion (miscarrage) is substantially increased in women who smoke by tenfold.
   • Moreover, smokers have more complications of pregnancy and labour which include bleeding during pregnancy, premature detachments of the placenta and premature rupture of the membranes, and inadequate milk production.
   • Perinatal mortality (defined as still birth or death of an infant within the first week of life) is increased by about one-third in babies of smokers.

6. Infant health and long term growth
   • Infants of parents who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from serious respiratory infection than the children of nonsmokers.
   • Smoking during pregnancy can also increase the risk of asthma in young children ( before 1-year-old) by 2.8 times.
   • Other disorders associated with smoking in pregnancy include an increased risk of infantile colic and cleft palate.
   • Smoking in pregnancy also have implications for the long term physical growth and intellectual development of the child, such as reduced height, lower attainments in reading and mathematics up to age 16 and even the highest qualification achieved by the age of 23.

7. Smoking, cervial cancer & menopause
   • The natural menopause occurs up to two years earlier in smokers.
   • The likelihood is related to the number of cigarettes smoked, with those smoking more than ten cigarettes a day having an increased risk of an early menopause.