Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and birthweight on the third generation: results from two birth cohort studies

  • RESEARCH
  • Published:
European Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether grandmother’s smoking during pregnancy reduces the grandchildren’s birthweight and whether maternal smoking during pregnancy modified this association. We also evaluated the effect of duration and intensity of smoking. This study included data from three generations from two birth cohorts carried out in Pelotas, a southern Brazilian city: women enrolled in the perinatal study in the 1982 and 1993 cohorts (G1); daughters (G2) of those G1 mothers who were followed to adulthood; and first children (G3) born from G2 women. Information on maternal smoking during pregnancy was obtained from women (G1) shortly after delivery of the two cohorts and from G2 in the follow-up in adulthood of the 1993 cohort. Mothers (G2) reported G3 birthweight during the follow-up visit at adulthood. Multiple linear regression was used to obtain effect measures adjusted for confounders. The study included 1602 grandmothers (G1), mothers (G2), and grandchildren (G3). Prevalence of maternal (G1) smoking during pregnancy was 43% and mean G3 birthweight was 3118.9 g (SD: 608.8). Grandmother’s smoking in the pregnancy was not associated with grandchild’s birthweight. However, offspring of both G1 and G2 smokers had lower mean birthweight than those whose mother and grandmother did not smoke (adjusted β: − 223.05; 95% CI: − 415.16, − 32.76).

Conclusion: No significant association was observed between grandmother’s smoking in the pregnancy and grandchild’s birthweight. But it seems that grandmother’s smoking in pregnancy has an effect on grandchild’s birthweight when the mother also smoked in the pregnancy. .

What is Known:

• Most studies on the association of maternal tobacco smoking in pregnancy with offspring birthweight have been restricted to two generations, and an inverse association is well known.

What is New:

• Besides to investigate whether grandmother’s smoking during pregnancy reduces the grandchildren’s birthweight, we examined whether this association varied according to maternal smoking during pregnancy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BMI:

Body mass index

DAG:

Directed acyclic graph

References

  1. Kramer MS (1987) Determinants of low birth weight: methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ 65:663–737

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Hyppönen E, Smith GD, Power C (2003) Effects of grandmothers’ smoking in pregnancy on birth weight: intergenerational cohort study. BMJ 327:898–901. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7420.898

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Ding M, Yuan C, Gaskins AJ, Field AE, Missmer SA, Michels KB, Hu F, Zhang C, Gillman MW, Chavarro J (2017) Smoking during pregnancy in relation to grandchild birth weight and BMI trajectories. PloS One 12:e0179368. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179368

  4. Misra DP, Astone N, Lynch CD (2005) Maternal smoking and birth weight: interaction with parity and mother’s own in utero exposure to smoking. Epidemiology 16:288–293. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ede.0000158198.59544.cf

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Rillamas-Sun E, Harlow SD, Randolph JF (2014) Grandmothers’ smoking in pregnancy and grandchildren’s birth weight: comparisons by grandmother birth cohort. Matern Child Health J 18:1691–1698. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-013-1411-x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Horta BL, Gigante DP, Gonçalves H, Motta JS, Mola CL, Oliveira IO, Barros FC, Victora CG (2015) Cohort profile update: the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study. Int J Epidemiol 44:441–441e. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyv017

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Gonçalves H, Wehrmeister FC, Assunção MC, Tovo-Rodrigues L, Oliveira IO, Murray J, Anselmi L, Barros FC, Victora CG, Menezes AMB (2018) Cohort profile update: the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort follow-up at 22 years. Int J Epidemiol 47:1389–1390e. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyx249

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Textor J, Hardt J, Knüppel S (2011) DAGitty: a graphical tool for analyzing causal diagrams. Epidemiology 22:745. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e318225c2be

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. World Health Organization (1995) Physical status: the use and interpretation of anthropometry - report of a WHO Expert Committee. WHO Technical Report Series, Nº 854, Geneva: 452 p. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/37003/WHO_TRS_854.pdf?se. Accessed 20 Sep 2022

  10. Hughes MM, Black RE, Katz J (2017) 2500-g low birth weight cutoff: history and implications for future research and policy. Matern Child Health J 21:283–289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2131-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Singer TM, Yauk CL (2010) Germ cell mutagens: risk assessment challenges in the 21st century. Environ Mol Mutagen 51:919–928. https://doi.org/10.1002/em.20613

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Janssen BG, Gyselaers W, Byun HM, Roels HA, Cuypers A, Baccarelli AA, Nawrot TS (2017) Placental mitochondrial DNA and CYP1A1 gene methylation as molecular signatures for tobacco smoke exposure in pregnant women and the relevance for birth weight. J Transl Med 15:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-016-1113-4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kuh D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Lynch J, Hallqvist J, Power C (2003) Life course epidemiology. J Epidemiol Community Health 57:778–783. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.57.10.778

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Quigley ME, Sheehan KL, Wilkes MM, Yen SSC (1979) Effects of maternal smoking on circulating catecholamine levels and fetal heart rates. Am J Obstet Gynecol 133:685–690. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(79)90019-X

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Longo LD (1977) The biological effects of carbon monoxide on the pregnant woman, fetus, and newborn infant. Am J Obstet Gynecol 129:69–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(77)90824-9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Haug K, Irgens LM, Skjærven R, Markestad T, Baste V, Schreuder P (2000) Maternal smoking and birthweight: effect modification of period, maternal age and paternal smoking. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 79:485–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1600-0412.2000.079006485.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Tan PY, Utravathy V, Ho LY, Foo SG, Tan KK (2016) Prevalence of tobacco smoking and accuracy of self-reporting in pregnant women at a public hospital for women and children. Ann Acad Med Singap 45:184–190

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Shenkin SD, Zhang MG, Der G, Mathur S, Mina TH, Reynolds RM (2017) Validity of recalled v. recorded birth weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Dev Orig Health Dis 8:137–148. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174416000581

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Tomeo CA, Rich-Edwards JW, Michels KB, Berkey CS, Hunter DJ, Frazier AL, Willett WC, Buka SL (1999) Reproducibility and validity of maternal recall of pregnancy-related events. Epidemiology 10:774–777. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001648-199911000-00019

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Catov JM, Newman AB, Kelsey SF, Roberts JM, Sutton-Tyrrell KC, Garcia M, Ayonayon HN, Tylavsky F, Ness RB (2006) Accuracy and reliability of maternal recall of infant birth weight among older women. Ann Epidemiol 16:429–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2005.09.004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Power C, Elliott J (2006) Cohort profile: the 1958 British birth cohort (National Child Development Study). Int J Epidemiol 35:34–41. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyi183

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Elliott J, Shepherd P (2006) Cohort profile: the 1970 British birth cohort (BCS70). Int J Epidemiol 35:836–843. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyl174

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Richter LM, Victora CG, Hallal PC, Adair LS, Bhargava SK, Fall CH, Lee N, Martorell R, Norris SA, Sachdev HS et al (2012) Cohort profile: the consortium of health-orientated research in transitioning societies. Int J Epidemiol 41:621–626. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyq251

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Ncube CN, Mueller BA (2017) Daughters of mothers who smoke: a population-based cohort study of maternal prenatal tobacco use and subsequent prenatal smoking in offspring. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 31:14–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12330

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contributions of 1982 and 1993 Pelotas Cohorts participants, others researchers and staff, and the institutions that funded the study.

Funding

This article is based on data from the study “Pelotas Birth Cohort, 1982 and 1993” conducted by the Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology at Federal University of Pelotas with the collaboration of the Brazilian Public Health Association (ABRASCO). From 2004 to 2016, the Wellcome Trust (086974/Z/08/Z) supported the Pelotas birth cohort study. The International Development Research Center, the World Health Organization, the Overseas Development Administration, the European Union, the National Support Program for Centers of Excellence (PRONEX), the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq), and the Brazilian Ministry of Health supported previous phases of the study. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Programme in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Rua Marechal Deodoro, 1160, 3º piso, Centro, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), 96020-220, Brazil

    Elma Izze da Silva Magalhães, Natália Peixoto Lima, Ana Maria Baptista Menezes, Helen Gonçalves, Fernando C. Wehrmeister, Maria Cecília Formoso Assunção & Bernardo Lessa Horta

Authors
  1. Elma Izze da Silva Magalhães
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Natália Peixoto Lima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ana Maria Baptista Menezes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Helen Gonçalves
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fernando C. Wehrmeister
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Maria Cecília Formoso Assunção
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Bernardo Lessa Horta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Elma Izze da Silva Magalhães designed the study, performed the statistical analysis and interpretation of the results, and drafted the manuscript. Bernardo Lessa Horta and Natália Peixoto Lima designed the study, helped the data analysis, and participated in the preparation of the manuscript. Bernardo Lessa Horta coordinated the follow-up of the 1982 cohort, and Ana Maria Baptista Menezes coordinated the follow-up of the 1993 cohort. Ana Maria Baptista Menezes, Helen Gonçalves, Fernando C. Wehrmeister, and Maria Cecília Formoso Assunção helped in the data acquisition and interpretation of the data. All authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript. Each author contributed important intellectual content during manuscript drafting or revision and accepts accountability for the overall work by ensuring that questions pertaining to the accuracy or integrity of any portion of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elma Izze da Silva Magalhães.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Pelotas and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards established in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Consent to participate

Written informed consent was obtained from participating subjects.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Communicated by Gregorio Milani.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 26 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Magalhães, E.I.d., Lima, N.P., Menezes, A.M.B. et al. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and birthweight on the third generation: results from two birth cohort studies. Eur J Pediatr 182, 2095–2104 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-023-04888-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-023-04888-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation