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Association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and learning disabilities in children and adolescents: A
Pingping Li1,2, Tong Lu3, Wei Wang4
1Graduate School of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
Insights
Maternal smoking during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of learning disabilities (LDs) in children and adolescents. This study highlights the importance of prenatal care and smoking cessation for healthy child neurodevelopment.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Limited evidence exists on the link between maternal smoking during pregnancy and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke is a significant public health concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and learning disabilities (LDs) in children and adolescents.
- To provide robust evidence on the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal smoke exposure.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study utilizing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (1999-2004).
- Maternal smoking status determined via self-report; learning disabilities identified through parental reports.
- Employed multiple advanced statistical techniques including propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability weighting (IPW) for robust analysis.
Main Results:
- A higher prevalence of LDs was observed in children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy (18.9%) compared to non-smokers (9.5%).
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of LDs in offspring (AOR=1.94; 95% CI: 1.59-2.37).
- Findings were consistent across various analytical methods, confirming the robustness of the association.
Conclusions:
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy is positively associated with learning disabilities in US children and adolescents.
- Further prospective research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this relationship.
- Public health initiatives emphasizing smoking cessation during pregnancy are crucial for child neurodevelopment.
Introduction:
The evidence on the associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, particularly learning disabilities, remains insufficient. This study aimed to evaluate the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and learning disabilities (LDs) in children and adolescents.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles 1999-2004. Maternal smoking status during pregnancy was obtained from self-reported questionnaires and classified as smoking or non-smoking. The primary outcome, learning disabilities (LDs), was determined based on parental response to the question: 'Has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that your child has a learning disability?'. Multiple analytic techniques, including multivariable logistic regression, propensity score matching (PSM), doubly robust estimation, inverse probability weighting (IPW), standardized mortality ratio weighting (SMRW), and stratified analyses, were used to evaluate the robustness of our findings.
Results:
There were 5835 participants in all, of whom 848 had mothers who smoked during pregnancy and 4987 had mothers who did not. The prevalence of LD was 18.9% (160/848) in the smoking group compared with 9.5% (474/4987) in the non-smoking group. After PSM, 1666 matched individuals were identified. The IPW model indicated that maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with LDs in offspring (AOR=1.94; 95% CI: 1.59-2.37). Consistent results were confirmed by multivariable logistic regression, doubly robust estimation, SMRW, and stratified analyses.
Conclusions:
Maternal smoking during pregnancy was positively associated with LDs among US children and adolescents. It is necessary to conduct further prospective studies to better understand this relationship.
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