title: Maternal smoking and craniosynostosis.
abstract: To investigate a possible association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and craniosynostosis (premature closure of one or more of the cranial sutures), a study was conducted using Swedish health registries. Infants with craniosynostosis (n = 304) without a known chromosome anomaly were selected among 1,413,811 infants born between 1983-1996 with known smoking exposure in early pregnancy. A statistically significant association between maternal smoking and craniosynostosis was found (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13-1.87), but this association was only valid for isolated defects (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.27-2.19). For associated craniosynostosis (malformation syndromes included), a negative (nonsignificant) association with maternal smoking was indicated instead. For isolated craniosynostosis (all types), a dose-dependent effect of maternal smoking was indicated (OR and 95% CI for smoking <10 cigarettes/day, 1.45 (1.04-2.02); OR and 95% CI for smoking >/=10 cigarettes/day, 2.12 (1.50-2.99)), but was not statistically significant. Among the different types of craniosynostosis, premature closure of the sagittal suture showed the strongest association with maternal smoking (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1. 02-2.14), whereas for coronal suture defects, no association with maternal smoking could be detected (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.47-2.21). As no obvious confounders were detected, the present study supports an earlier report of an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and at least some types of craniosynostosis.
authors.affiliation: Tornblad Institute, University of Lund, Lund S-223 62, Sweden. karin.kallen@anatom.lu.se
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Källén
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003398:Craniosynostoses / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*