title: Maternal smoking cessation in early pregnancy and offspring weight status at four years of age. A prospective birth cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with fetal growth restriction, but also with increased risk for overweight in childhood. If the mother stops smoking in early pregnancy fetal growth is not restricted, but whether the risk for later overweight persists is unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study if four year old children of mothers who stopped smoking in early pregnancy have higher mean body mass index (BMI) and/or increased odds of being overweight compared with children of non-smokers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective population based study on Norwegian mothers and children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Among 711 children available for analysis, 540 were children of never smoking mothers, 114 of mothers who stopped smoking in early pregnancy, and 57 of mothers who continued to smoke throughout pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  BMI and overweight defined by international criteria at age four.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with children of never smoking mothers, children of smoking mothers had higher mean BMI (mean difference: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.10, 0.84 kg/m(2)), whereas mean BMI was not higher among children of mothers who stopped smoking (mean difference: 0.02; 95% CI: -0.24, 0.28 kg/m(2). Similarly, children of smoking mothers had increased odds for overweight (adjusted OR: 2.83; 95% CI: 1.13, 7.10), whereas children of mothers who stopped smoking did not have increased odds (adjusted OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 0.62, 2.68) compared with children of never smoking mothers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the association between smoking exposure and childhood overweight did not persist in children of mothers who stopped smoking early in pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and General Practice, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Medisinsk Teknisk Forskningssenter, Trondheim, Norway. magnus.fasting@gmail.com
authors.forename: Magnus Hølmo
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fasting
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Øien
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Storrø
authors.forename: Tom-Ivar Lund
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.forename: Roar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnsen
authors.forename: Torstein
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires