title: Course of growth during the first 6 years in children exposed in utero to tobacco smoke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Postnatal growth in children exposed in utero to tobacco smoke is not well understood. This study investigated growth during the first 6 years in children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weight, length, and head circumference were measured annually for 6 years in 100 children in each group of smoking (study) and nonsmoking (control) mothers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Weight and head circumference were significantly smaller in the neonates whose mothers smoked >or=15 cigarettes/day, but the difference disappeared by 3 years of life. Length was significantly smaller in the study neonates at birth, followed by increasing divergence from normality up to 2 years, when the mean difference of children whose mothers smoked >or=15 cigarettes/day from control children was -3.4 cm (p <or= 0.0001). Subsequently, they manifested catch-up growth ,and the difference from the controls at 3, 4, 5, and 6 years was -2.5 cm (p <or= 0.0001), -2.2 cm (p = 0.005), -2.1 cm (p = 0.013), and -1.9 cm (p = 0.055), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The delayed growth was related to smoking per se and appeared to be independent of several confounding factors. At birth, there was a significant negative correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the growth parameters studied; it remained significant up to the 6 year only for length.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Length exhibits the most persistent growth delay of the parameters studied, but catch-up growth occurs after the second year of life, and thus, intrauterine exposure to tobacco smoke seems to have no permanent effect on children's growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, General University Hospital of Patras, University of Patras Medical School, Rio, Patras 265 04, Greece.
authors.forename: Theodoros A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Kanellopoulos
authors.forename: Anastasia A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Varvarigou
authors.forename: Ageliki A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Karatza
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Beratis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors