Association of Maternal Tobacco Use During Pregnancy
Zou R, Boer OD, Felix JF, et al. Association of Maternal Tobacco Use During Pregnancy With Preadolescent Brain Morphology Among Offspring. JAMA Netw Open. 1 Aug 2022;5(8): e2224701
“This cohort study of 2704 children in the Netherlands suggests that continued maternal tobacco use during pregnancy is associated with lower brain volumes and suboptimal cortical traits of offspring in preadolescence, which seem to be independent of shared family factors. Tobacco cessation before pregnancy, or as soon as pregnancy is known, should be recommended to women for optimal brain development of their offspring.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794811
An invited comment cites past research on consequences to brain development from maternal smoking and notes, “Zou et al. showed that children exposed to smoking only in the first trimester showed no differences in brain morphology compared with unexposed children. Thus, most of the harmful effects of smoking on brain development can be avoided if smoking cessation occurs as soon as possible during pregnancy. This finding is encouraging and emphasizes the importance of smoking cessation during pregnancy. It is important to exploit such information when encouraging pregnant women to quit smoking. (Emphasis added)
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794817
Stephen Hamann
