Passive smoking and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Pregestational smoking increases the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and is a common health problem during pregnancy, with its incidence on the rise worldwide, especially in China. This study is a meta-analysis of passive smoking as a risk factor associated with GDM.

Two independent reviewers searched passive smoking and the risk of GDM in PubMed, Medline, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI) and Wanfang databases (up to May 2023). The authors extracted the study data independently and used the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) to evaluate the quality of the included articles. A meta-analysis was conducted using a random effects model depending on the size of the heterogeneity. Begg's and Egger's tests were performed to assess publication bias.

The overall relative risk for GDM caused by passive smoking was 1.47 (95% CI: 1.31-1.64), with moderate heterogeneity between studies (I²=41.7%, p=0.079). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were stable, and no evidence of publication bias was found.

Passive smoking is a risk factor for GDM, even in those who are not active smokers. To eliminate the effects of other confounding factors, larger prospective cohort studies are required to clarify the relationship between passive smoking and the occurrence of GDM.