Use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) by pregnant women I: Risk of small-for-gestational-age birth

The 2016 US Surgeon General's Report suggests that the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is a fetal risk factor. However, no previous study has estimated their effect on adverse pregnancy outcomes. We assessed the prevalence of current ENDS use in pregnant women and explored the effect on birth weight and smallness-for-gestational-age (SGA), correcting for misclassification from nondisclosure of smoking status.

We conducted a cohort study with 248 pregnant women using questionnaire data and biomarkers (salivary cotinine, exhaled carbon monoxide, and hair nicotine). We evaluated the association between birth weight and the risk of SGA by applying multivariate linear and log-binomial regression to reproductive outcome data for 232 participants. Participants who did not disclose their smoking status were excluded from the referent group. Sensitivity analysis corrected for misclassification of smoking/ENDS use status.

The prevalence of current ENDS use among pregnant women was 6.8% (95% CI: 4.4-10.2%); most of these (75%) were concurrent smokers. Using self-reports, the estimated risk ratio of SGA for ENDS users was nearly two times the risk in the unexposed (RR=1.9, 95% CI: 0.6-5.5), and over three times that for ENDS-only users versus the unexposed (RR=3.1, 95% CI: 0.8-11.7). Excluding from the referent group smokers who did not disclose their smoking status, the risk of SGA for ENDS-only use was 5 times the risk in the unexposed (RR=5.1, 95% CI: 1.1- 22.2), and almost four times for all types of ENDS users (RR=3.8, 95% CI: 1.3-11.2). SGA risk ratios for ENDS users, corrected for misclassification due to self-report, were 6.5-8.5 times that of the unexposed.

Our data suggest that ENDS use is associated with an increased risk of SGA.