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Prenatal smoking increased risk for conduct problems in offspring

Smoking during pregnancy can lead to offspring conduct problems, researchers said.

“Advice should be provided to pregnant mothers that smoking during pregnancy may be linked to long-term negative developmental outcomes for children, including conduct problems, and by desisting from smoking during pregnancy, the long-term health and development of their offspring may be promoted,” Gordon T. Harold, PhD, of the University of Leicester, told Psychiatric Annals.

 

Gordon T. Harold

This study examined evidence from three research designs: The Christchurch Health and Development Study, the Early Growth and Development Study, and the Cardiff In Vitro Fertilization Study. Maternal smoking was measured as number of cigarettes smoked per day during the pregnancy (zero; one to nine; 10 or more).

Researchers found that, across all studies, children had higher mean scores of conduct problems if their mothers smoke during pregnancy. Children whose mothers smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day had the highest mean score of conduct problems.

“Our findings suggest an association between pregnancy smoking and child conduct problems that is unlikely to be fully explained by postnatal environmental factors (ie, parenting practices) even when the postnatal passive genotype-environment correlation has been removed,” researchers wrote. “The causal explanation for the association between smoking in pregnancy and offspring conduct problems is not known but may include genetic factors and other prenatal environmental hazards, including smoking itself.”

Disclosure: Harold reports no relevant financial disclosures.