Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure during Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment

Abstract

The developing fetus is especially vulnerable to environmental toxicants, including tobacco constituents. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during pregnancy on child neurodevelopment within the first two years of life. The study population consisted of 461 non-smoking pregnant women (saliva cotinine level <10 ng/mL). Maternal passive smoking was assessed based on the cotinine level in saliva analyzed by the use of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI + MS/MS) and by questionnaire data. The cotinine cut-off value for passive smoking was established at 1.5 ng/mL (sensitivity 63%, specificity 71%). Psychomotor development was assessed in children at the age of one- and two-years using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Approximately 30% of the women were exposed to ETS during pregnancy. The multivariate linear regression model indicated that ETS exposure in the 1st and the 2nd trimesters of pregnancy were associated with decreasing child language functions at the age of one (β = −3.0, p = 0.03, and β = −4.1, p = 0.008, respectively), and two years (β = −3.8, p = 0.05, and β = −6.3, p = 0.005, respectively). A negative association was found for cotinine level ≥1.5 ng/mL in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy and child cognition at the age of 2 (β = −4.6, p = 0.05), as well as cotinine levels ≥1.5 ng/mL in all trimesters of pregnancy and child motor abilities at two years of age (β = −3.9, p = 0.06, β = −5.3, p = 0.02, and β = −4.2, p = 0.05, for the 1st, the 2nd, and the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, respectively; for the 1st trimester the effect was of borderline statistical significance). This study confirmed that ETS exposure during pregnancy can have a negative impact on child psychomotor development within the first two years of life and underscore the importance of public health interventions aiming at reducing this exposure.

Sex-Dependent Impact of Low-Level Lead Exposure during Prenatal Period on Child Psychomotor Functions

“…Characteristic features of the mothers and children were described, in detail, in our previous publications, and are presented in the Supplementary Materials (Table S1) [ 13 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. In short, a significant part of the mothers had university education (70.1%), were married (77.1%), and belonged to medium or high SES groups (91.1%).…”

“…Then, despite the fact that the analysis covered a variety of covariates, we did not consider the quality of home environment, relationship between the mother and her child, parental roles, or maternal IQ. In the case of most of these variables, SES and the level of maternal education can be regarded a reliable proxy (confounding effect of maternal education, SES, number of brothers and sisters, and day care attendance as surrogate were considered) [ 31 ]. In addition, the possibility of selection bias has to be discussed.…”

“…In order to estimate the children’s neurodevelopment (including language, cognitive, and motor functions) at the age of one and two, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley 3rd edition) was applied [ 13 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Global DNA methylation and cognitive and behavioral outcomes at 4 years of age: A cross‐sectional study

“…The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis postulates that environmental exposures in utero or during the postnatal period may alter physiological programming and disease risk in adulthood (Gluckman, Hanson, and Pinal (2005)). Early‐life exposures, including maternal smoking (Polanska et al, 2017; Moylan et al, 2015), low birthweight (Arcangeli, Thilaganathan, Hooper, Khan, & Bhide, 2012; Miller, DeBoer, & Scharf, 2017), and inadequate nutrition (Darling et al, 2017; Liu and Raine, 2017), have been associated with behavioral and cognitive deficits in later life. Epigenetics is postulated to be a possible mechanism involved in the association between early‐life exposures and human diseases (Bauer et al, 2016; Radtke et al, 2011; Tobi et al, 2015).…”

Sigaranın Çocuğa Etkileri Konusunda Ailelerin Farkındalıkları, Tutum ve Davranışları

“…[6][7][8] Ayrıca çevresel sigara dumanına intrauterin dönemde maruz kalmanın ilk iki yılda çocuğun psikomotor gelişimini olumsuz yönde etkilediği gösterilmiştir. 9 Ani bebek ölümü sendromu (SIDS) olan bebeklerin %85'inin intrauterin dönemde sigara dumanına maruz kaldıkları saptanmıştır. Solunumsal ve kardiyovasküler yetersizliğin kardiyak aritmilere neden olarak bebeklerin kaybedildiği belirtilmiştir.…”