The effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on early infant lung function

We studied the effect of prenatal maternal cigarette smoking on the pulmonary function (PF) of 80 healthy infants tested shortly after birth (mean, 4.2 +/- 1.9 wk). Mothers' prenatal smoking was measured by: (1) questionnaire reports at each prenatal visit of the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and (2) urine cotinine concentrations (corrected for creatinine) obtained at each visit. Infant PF was assessed by partial expiratory flow-volume curves and helium-dilution measurement of FRC. Forced expiratory flow rates were significantly lower in infants born to smoking mothers, both when unadjusted and after controlling for infant size, age, sex, and passive exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) between birth and the time of PF testing. Flow at functional residual capacity (VFRC) in infants born to smoking mothers was lower than that found in infants whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy (74.3 +/- 15.9 versus 150.4 +/- 8.9 ml/s; p = 0.0007). Differences remained significant when flow was corrected for lung size (VFRC/FRC: 0.87 +/- 0.26 versus 1.77 +/- 0.12 s-1; p = 0.013). No differences in pulmonary function were evident among infants exposed and unexposed to ETS in the home after stratifying by prenatal exposure status. We conclude that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with significant reductions in forced expiratory flow rates in young infants. The results suggest that maternal smoking during pregnancy may impair in utero airway development and/or alter lung elastic properties. We speculate that these effects of maternal prenatal smoking on early levels of forced expiratory flow may be an important factor predisposing infants to the occurrence of wheezing illness later in childhood.