[Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and psychomotor development of children].
BACKGROUND
In Poland, prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke is observed in about 30 percent of children and postnatal in over 50 percent of children. This exposure has serious health consequences, including the negative effect on child neurodevelopment. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on child psychomotor development.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 63 children with well assessed prenatal ETS exposure (a threefold analysis of cotinine level in saliva of pregnant women). To assess ETS exposure in infants within one year after birth a questionnaire-based interview was conducted with mothers. The Bayley Scale for Infant and Toddler Development (BESID-III) was used for the evaluation of child neurodevelopment.


RESULTS
Multivariate analysis (including gender, birth order of the child and parental educational status) indicated the statistically significant association between prenatal exposure to ETS and cognitive child development (b = -4.0; p = 0.04). ETS exposure has also a negative impact on motor (b = -2.7; p = 0.2) and language (b = -3.4; p = 0.08) abilities of the child although the results were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal smoking was found to be related to a decrease in child neurodevelopment, however, it was impossible to separate the prenatal from postnatal exposure. A lot of effort should be made to eliminate ETS exposure of children.
Polańska
Kinga
K
Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. J. Nofera, Lódź, Zakład Epidemiologii Srodowiskowej. kinga@imp.lodz.pl
Hanke
Wojciech
W
Sobala
Wojciech
W
Ligocka
Danuta
D
D002657:Child Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D011044:Poland; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012931:Social Environment; D013997:Time Factors; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution