Course of growth during the first 6 years in children exposed in utero to tobacco smoke.
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.
Kanellopoulos
Theodoros A
TA
Department of Pediatrics, General University Hospital of Patras, University of Patras Medical School, Rio, Patras 265 04, Greece.
Varvarigou
Anastasia A
AA
Karatza
Ageliki A
AA
Beratis
Nicholas G
NG
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