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Maternal smoking in prenatal and early postnatal life and the risk of respiratory tract infections in infancy. The Generation R study

  • Developmental Epidemiology
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Abstract

Objective To assess the associations of maternal smoking during pregnancy and in the postnatal period with respiratory tract infections in young infants. Methods This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life onwards. All data were assessed by questionnaires. Maternal smoking was assessed in pregnancy (no, stopped when pregnancy was known, continued during pregnancy) and at 6 months postnatally. Doctor-attended respiratory tract infections were recorded at the age of 6 months. The present analyses were based on 3,418 subjects. Results Continued maternal smoking during pregnancy was not associated with respiratory tract infections in young infants. Maternal smoking in the postnatal period showed a tendency for an increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections in infants (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.61 (95% confidence interval: 0.99, 2.63)). Dose–response effects for maternal smoking during pregnancy or in the postnatal period on the risk of respiratory tract infections were not observed. In infants of mothers who smoked neither during pregnancy nor in the postnatal period, environmental smoking during pregnancy and in the postnatal period together was associated with upper respiratory tract infections (aOR 1.58 (95% CI: 1.07, 2.35)). Conclusions No effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy with respiratory tract infections was observed. Weak evidence for the association between maternal smoking in the postnatal period and lower respiratory tract infections were found. Exposure to non-maternal environmental smoking during pregnancy and in the postnatal period together increases the risk of upper respiratory tract infections in young infants.

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Abbreviations

aOR:

Adjusted odds ratio

CI:

Confidence interval

OR:

Odds ratio

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Acknowledgements

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation and the Stichting Trombosedienst & Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. The first phase of the Generation R Study was made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (Zon Mw). The present study was supported by an additional grant from Stichting W.H. Kröger, Rotterdam (Grant No. 00-048).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Liesbeth Duijts & Vincent W. V. Jaddoe

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus Medical Center, P.O. Box 2060, 3000 CB, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Liesbeth Duijts, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Johan C. de Jongste & Henriëtte A. Moll

  3. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Vincent W. V. Jaddoe & Albert Hofman

  4. Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Eric A. P. Steegers

  5. Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Johan P. Mackenbach

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  1. Liesbeth Duijts
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Correspondence to Henriëtte A. Moll.

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Duijts, L., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Hofman, A. et al. Maternal smoking in prenatal and early postnatal life and the risk of respiratory tract infections in infancy. The Generation R study. Eur J Epidemiol 23, 547–555 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-008-9264-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-008-9264-0

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