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Does passive smoking in early pregnancy increase the risk of small-for-gestational-age infants?
E Dejin-Karlsson1, B S Hanson, P O Ostergren
1Department of Community Medicine, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden.
Objectives:
This study tested the hypothesis that women who deliver small-for-gestational-age infants are more often exposed to passive smoking at home or at work.
Methods:
Among a 1-year cohort of nulliparous women in the city of Malmö, Sweden 872 (87.7%) women completed a questionnaire during their first prenatal visit. The study was carried out among women whose pregnancies resulted in a singleton live birth (n = 826), 6.7% of infants were classified as small for their gestational age.
Results:
Passive smoking in early pregnancy was shown to double a woman's risk of delivering a small-for-gestational-age infant, independent of potential confounding factors such as age, height, weight, nationality, educational level, and the mother's own active smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7). A stratified analysis indicated interactional effects of maternal smoking and passive smoking on relative small-for-gestational-age risk.
Conclusions:
Based on an attributable risk estimate, a considerable reduction in the incidence of small-for-gestational-age births could be reached if pregnant women were not exposed to passive smoking.