Smoking in pregnancy and children's mental and motor development at age 1 and 5 years.
We used data from a Scandinavian prospective multicenter study to investigate if smoking in pregnancy may have an adverse effect on the child's mental and motor abilities. Eligible for enrolment were para I and 2 women with a singleton pregnancy, who resided in one of the study areas and could be registered before the 20th gestational week. Women were classified as 'smokers' or 'non-smokers' at study start. At 13 months, 376 children (124 children of smokers) were evaluated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. At this age, children of smokers and non-smokers performed equally well. At 5 years, 369 children (132 children of smokers) were tested with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence Revised (WPPSI-R), and 362 children with the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS). Children of smokers had an increased risk of getting a WPPSI-R score below the median value of the population (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.2-3.3), but the risk was reduced when we adjusted for maternal education (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 0.9-3.7). Children of smokers had an increased risk of getting a test score below the median population value on the subscale 'balance' from PDMS (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.2-2.8). Thus, we found that smoking in pregnancy was associated with a small, but demonstrable adverse effect on the child's balance at 5 years, whereas the negative effect on cognitive function did not reach statistical significance, when we adjusted for the mother's level of education.
Trasti
N
N
Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.
Vik
T
T
Jacobsen
G
G
Bakketeig
L S
LS
D000328:Adult; D002657:Child Development / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*