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Published on: August 25, 2014
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and neural tube defects in offspring: a meta-analysis
Meng Wang1, Zhi-Ping Wang, Rui Gong
1Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua Xilu Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, China, wm198817@163.com.
Purpose:
This study aims to examine the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and neural tube defects (NTDs) in offspring.
Methods:
We retrieved published studies on the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and NTDs risk in offspring. Meta-analysis was applied to calculate the overall odds ratios (ORs) and their 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). The publication bias was assessed by the Egger's regression asymmetry test and Begg's rank correlation test.
Results:
The overall effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on NTDs was 1.03 (OR = 1.03, 95 % CI = 0.80-1.33). When subgroup analysis was conducted by geographic regions, the overall effects were 1.39 (OR = 1.39, 95 % CI = 1.18-1.64), 0.88 (OR = 0.88, 95 % CI = 0.66-1.17) in Europe and USA; when subgroup analysis was conducted by NTDs types, the overall effect was 1.55 (OR = 1.55, 95 % CI = 1.06-2.26) for spina bifida.
Conclusions:
Women who smoked during pregnancy had mildly elevated risk of having infants with NTDs.
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