Smoking During Pregnancy
Linked to Kids' Obesity
Excerpt By Charnicia E. Huggins , Reuter's Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking in pregnancy is dangerous for a number of reasons. Now a new study suggests one more-children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be more likely to become obese than other youngsters.

These findings give prospective mothers one more reason to kick the smoking habit, according to lead study author Dr. Rudiger von Kries of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany.

"Women at risk of becoming pregnant should stop smoking--not only to reduce the well established risks of perinatal morbidity, sudden infant death syndrome, childhood asthma but also--and this is new--to reduce the risk for obesity in offspring," von Kries told Reuters Health.

His findings are based on an analysis of 1999-2000 data from 6,483 children whose parents--mother, father or both--completed school entry health questionnaires in six German communities.

Overall, 638 mothers smoked during pregnancy, and their children were twice as likely to be obese and 43% more likely to be overweight than children of nonsmoking mothers, the investigators report in the November 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

A child's risk of obesity and overweight also rose with the number of cigarettes the mother smoked during pregnancy, the researchers note.

Further, the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the children's risk of overweight and obesity was similar to the effect of children's frequent television viewing, regular eating of snacks while watching television and video game playing.

The association remained even after the researchers took these factors into consideration, along with others that can influence childhood obesity such as the parents' educational level and whether or not the child had been breast-fed.

The association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood obesity "cannot be explained by a considerable number of confounders," von Kries said.

The reason for the association is unknown, but one explanation may be that the nicotine exposure adversely affects the child's brain during development, resulting in later problems with appetite control, the researcher speculates.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2002;156:954-961.

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