Maternal tobacco use during pregnancy tied to suboptimal brain development in offspring: JAMA

Netherlands: Interventions targeting maternal smoking cessation before pregnancy or in early pregnancy are necessary because continued maternal tobacco use during pregnancy is associated with suboptimal brain development among offspring in preadolescence, reports a study article published in the JAMA Network Open.

Survey reports, that globally more than 50% of the women who smoked daily, continued to do so even during pregnancy. Despite the well-documented risks of tobacco use, the prevalence of cigarette smoking during pregnancy is still high; it varies considerably across different countries and socioeconomic groups. Maternal tobacco use during pregnancy affects the health of not only the mother but also her offspring. Evidence suggests that maternal tobacco use during pregnancy has been associated with various health consequences including suboptimal neurodevelopment in offspring. However, the effect of prenatal exposure to maternal smoking on child brain development has yet to be elucidated.

Runyu Zou, University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the research team conducted a cohort study to investigate the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring brain development in preadolescence as well as the mediating pathways.

Researchers included 2704 children[mean (SD) age of 10.1 (0.6) years]  with information on maternal tobacco use during pregnancy and usable brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data at 9 to 11 years of age for the study. The present study was embedded in the Generation R Study. A subsample of 784 children with data on DNA methylation at birth was examined in the mediation analysis. Information on maternal smoking during pregnancy was collected via a questionnaire in each trimester. In contrast, paternal smoking was assessed at recruitment.