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Grandmaternal smoking patterns could affect asthma in grandchildren

Some evidence exists that connects asthma to children, particularly girls, when their fathers had prenatal exposure to smoke and the children’s mothers were nonsmokers, according to study results.

Researchers compared the offspring of women and men who had been exposed to cigarette smoke in utero by using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The children of female smokers and nonsmokers were analyzed separately. Trajectories of history of early wheezing, doctor-diagnosed asthma by age 7 years, and lung function and methocholine challenge tests at 8 years were used to measure outcomes.

When the mother was a nonsmoker, there was “evidence of an increase in asthma risk with paternal prenatal exposure” (adjusted OR=1.17; 95% CI, 0.97-1.41). When the offspring were girls, the evidence was stronger (adjusted OR=1.39; 95% CI, 1.04-1.86) when compared with boys (adjusted OR=1.04; 95% CI, 0.81-1.34).

“We found no association between asthma risk and maternal exposure in utero; however, sex-specific analysis did indicate that paternal exposure to his mother smoking during pregnancy was associated with a higher asthma risk in his daughters,” the researchers concluded. “These results should be regarded as hypothesis-generating only, being dependent just on reported symptoms without corroborating biologic evidence.”

“The study by Miller adds to an evolving literature by providing population-based evidence to suggest that tobacco exposure not only harms the smoker and his or her children but also can extend to the grandchildren,” Harold J. Farber, MD, MSPH, FCCP, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, said in an accompanying editorial. “Although not a definitive study, when combined with existing knowledge on the substantial harms of in utero tobacco smoke exposure, the results should further escalate our concerns not just for our generation but for future generations as well.”

Disclosure: See the study and editorial for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.