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Prenatal and Childhood Smoke Exposure Associations with Cognition, Language, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity

Bernard F Fuemmeler1, Trevin E Glasgow1, Julia C Schechter2

  • 1Department of Health Behavior and Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA.

The Journal of Pediatrics
|December 13, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Childhood exposure to tobacco smoke is linked to developmental issues. This study found that smoke exposure in childhood negatively impacts cognitive skills, language, and attention regulation in young children.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Health
  • Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics
  • Toxicology

Background:

  • Prenatal and childhood environmental exposures can significantly impact child development.
  • Tobacco smoke contains numerous neurotoxicants that may affect brain development.
  • Objective measures like cotinine levels are crucial for assessing smoke exposure accurately.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between prenatal and childhood smoke exposure and neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes.
  • To quantify the impact of smoke exposure on cognitive functions and behavioral symptoms in early childhood.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a subsample (n=386) from the Newborn Epigenetic Study (NEST) prebirth cohort.
  • Measured prenatal and childhood smoke exposure using cotinine concentrations in mother-child dyads.
  • Employed multivariable regression to analyze associations with NIH Toolbox cognitive assessments and BASC-2 behavioral symptoms.

Main Results:

  • Childhood smoke exposure (cotinine) correlated with deficits in cognitive flexibility, episodic memory, receptive language, and inhibitory control.
  • Childhood smoke exposure was linked to increased attention problems, though this became nonsignificant after confounder adjustment.
  • An interaction between prenatal and childhood smoke exposure affected vocabulary development.

Conclusions:

  • Childhood tobacco smoke exposure is associated with impaired attention regulation, language acquisition, and complex visual processing.
  • Findings highlight the detrimental effects of early-life environmental smoke exposure on neurodevelopment.
  • Further research may explore the combined effects of prenatal and childhood smoke exposure on cognitive outcomes.
Abstract

Keywords:
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disordercotinineneurodevelopmenttobacco

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