Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy, Growth, and Bone Mass in Prepubertal Children

Abstract

There have been no studies of smoking during pregnancy and bone mineralization in children. The objective of this population-based longitudinal study was to determine whether maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with bone mass and other growth variables in prepubertal children. We studied 330 8-year-old male and female children representing 47% of those who originally took part in a study of risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 1988. The main outcome measures were bone mineral density measured by a Hologic QDR2000 densitometer: birth weight, placental weight, height, and weight. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with deficits in growth with these children having lower height (− , 95% CI −0.015 to 0.005). This association was only present for children born at term. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy also had lower placental weight (− 56 g, 95% CI −95 to −17), and further adjustment for placental weight led to nonsignificant results for smoking with both growth and bone parameters, suggesting that these associations may be mediated through placental size and function. Maternal smoking habit in 1996 was not significantly associated with bone mass at any site. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated a long-term negative association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and both growth and bone mass in children born at term, and suggests that the timing of exposure rather than the dose or duration is critical. If these associations are present in other populations and they persist until the attainment of peak bone mass, then our findings suggest that osteoporosis prevention programs should start very early in the life cycle. (J Bone Miner Res 1999;14:146-151)

Vitamin D levels in prepubertal children in Southern Tasmania: prevalence and determinants

“…Our sample of prepubertal children is a convenience sample and some caution is necessary with extrapolation of our results to the general Tasmanian population of prepubertal children. However, there was no relationship between any of the original selection factors and current 25(OH)D levels suggesting that the selection bias that clearly applied to this cohort in terms of lower maternal age, low birth weight, under-representation of breastfeeding and over-representation of smokers (Jones et al, 1999) does not materially in¯uence the results of the current study. In addition, there were no signi®cant differences between those in our sample who had 25(OH)D measured and those who didn't in a number of important study factors with the exception of age which can be related to the protocol whereby 25(OH)D measurement commenced in June 1997 as compared to March for the overall study.…”

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and child overweight: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Three recent studies reported higher weight but no difference in height in children exposed to prenatal smoking. 14,19,33 Others have found that prenatally exposed children were both shorter and heavier 17,34,35,44,47 with shorter leg length. 48 Additional older studies with no information on weight found that children of smokers were shorter.…”

Factors affecting newborn bone mineral content:in uteroeffects on newborn bone mineralization

“…In rats there is a dose-related retardation in embryonic growth, and also a reduction in the number of skeletal ossification centres (developmental delay; Seller & Bnait, 1995). There is evidence of a long-term negative association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and both growth and bone mass in children born at term (Jones et al 1999). Smoking by the mother during pregnancy is associated with deficits in growth in 8-year-old children (lower weight and height), and disproportionate deficit in bone mass; children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had lower size-adjusted bone mass at the lumbar spine and femoral neck but not total body.…”