Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure among pregnant women: impact on fetal biometry at 20–24 weeks of gestation and newborn child’s birth weight

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aim

While there are sufficient data regarding the negative effect of exposure to the constituents of tobacco smoke on newborn infants’ birth weights, it is still unclear whether this effect may originate in early pregnancy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of exposure to tobacco smoke components in early pregnancy (20–24 weeks) on fetal biometry.

Methods

The study population comprised 183 women consecutively enrolled at 20–24 weeks of pregnancy at the two antenatal care units. Ultrasound biometric measurements of fetal bi-parietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) were performed at the time of enrolment. Serum cotinine concentration was determined at 20–24 weeks of gestation by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detector (GC/MS) to assess environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure during the previous evening and the morning of the same day (blood collection at 1200–1300 h). ETS exposure (passive smoking) was assumed to occur when the level of serum cotinine ranged from 2–10 ng/ml.

Results

In a multiple regression model for bi-parietal diameter (BPD), after adjustment for pregnancy duration at the time of ultrasound examination, fetal gender, and maternal pre-pregnancy weight, a statistically significant negative association was found between the BPD and serum cotinine concentration. A similar association was identified for subjects with serum cotinine concentrations below 10 ng/ml (corresponding to passive smoking) (P=0.06). After controlling for pregnancy duration, maternal pre-pregnancy weight and infant’s gender, we found that serum cotinine levels at 20–24 weeks of gestation was inversely associated with infant birth weight (P=0.004). For the subjects with serum cotinine levels below 10 ng/ml, a borderline association (P=0.09) with infant birth weight was found.

Conclusions

Maternal exposure to tobacco smoke in early pregnancy, as measured by serum cotinine concentrations at 20–24 weeks of gestation, adversely affects fetal BPD. Preventive measures need to be undertaken to encourage pregnant women to stop smoking and avoid passive exposure to tobacco smoke from the very beginning of pregnancy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abel EA (1980) Smoking during pregnancy: a review of effects on growth and development of offspring. Hum Biol 52:593–625

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Ahlborg G, Bodin L (1991) Tobacco smoke exposure and pregnancy outcome among working women. Am J Epidemiol 133:338–347

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Andersen BD, Ng KJ, Iams JD (1982) Cotinine in amniotic fluids from passive smokers (letter). Lancet 1:791–792

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Bardy AH, et al. (1993) Objectively measured tobacco exposure during pregnancy: neonatal effects and relation to maternal smoking. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 100:721–726

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Becher H, Zatonski W, Jockel KH (1992) Passive smoking in Germany and Poland: comparison of exposure levels, sources of exposure, validity, and perception. Epidemiology 3:509–514

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen Y, Pederson LL, Lefcoe NM (1989) Passive smoking and low birthweight (letter). Lancet ii:54–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Eskenazi B, Prehn AW, Christianson RE (1995) Passive and active maternal smoking. Am J Public Health 85:395–398

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Fortier I, Marcoux S, Brisson J (1994) Passive smoking during pregnancy and risk of delivering a small-for-gestational-age infant. Am J Epidemiol 139:294–310

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Haddow JE, Knight GJ, Palomaki GE, McCarthy AE (1988) Second trimester serum cotinine levels in nonsmokers in relation to birth weight. Am J Obstet Gynecol 159:481–484

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hanke W, Kalinka J, Florek E, Sobala W (1999) Passive smoking and pregnancy outcome in central Poland. Hum Exp Toxicol 118:265–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Jaakola JK, Nastad P, Magnus P (2001) Environmental tobacco smoke, parental atopy, and childhood asthma. Environ Health Perspect 109:579–582

    Google Scholar 

  12. Jędrychowski W (1998) Effects of poor air quality on the health of Krakow children. Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum, Kraków

  13. Jordanov JS (1990) Cotinine concentrations in amniotic fluid and urine of smoking, passive smoking and non-smoking pregnant women at term and in the urine of their neonates on 1st day of life. Eur J Paediatr 149:734–737

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Lindbohm ML, Salmen M, Taskinen H (2002) Effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke on reproductive health Scand J Environ Health 28 [Suppl 2]:84–96

  15. Martin TR, Bracken MB (1986) Association of low birth weight with passive smoke exposure in pregnancy. Am J Epidemiol 124:632–642

    Google Scholar 

  16. Misra D, Nguyen R (1999) Environmental tobacco smoke and low birth weight: a hazard in the workplace? Environ Health Perspect 107[Suppl 6]:879–904

  17. Newnham JP, Patterson L, James I, Reid SE (1990) Effects of maternal cigarette smoking on ultrasonic measurements of fetal growth and on Doppler flow velocity waveforms. Early Hum Dev 24:23–36

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Ogawa H, Tominaga S, Hori K, Noguchi K, Kanou I, Matsubara M (1991) Passive smoking by pregnant women and fetal growth. J Epidemiol Community Health 45:164–168

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Peacock JL, Cook DG, Carey IM, Jarvis MJ, Bryant AE, Anderson HR, et al. (1998) Maternal cotinine level during pregnancy and birthweight for gestational age. Int J Epidemiol 27:647–56

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Rebagliato M, Bolumar F, Florey C (1995) Assessment of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in nonsmoking pregnant women in different environments of daily living. Am J Epidemiol 142:525–530

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Rubin DH, Krasilnikhoff PA, Leventhal JM, Weile B, Berget A (1986) Effect of passive smoking on birth weight. Lancet 2:415–417

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Smith N, Austen J (1982) Tertiary smoking by the fetus (letter). Lancet 1:1252

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (1993) Respiratory health effects of passive smoking: lung cancer and other disorders. EPA, Department of Health and Human Services, 1993:93–3605. NIH publication: Smoking and tobacco control, monograph 4, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  24. Windham GC, Eaton A, Hopkins B (1999) Evidence for an association between environmental tobacco smoke exposure and birthweight: a meta-analysis and new data. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 13:35–57

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang J, Ratcliffe J (1993) Paternal smoking and birthweight in Shanghai. Am J Public Health 83:207–210

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wojciech Hanke.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hanke, W., Sobala, W. & Kalinka, J. Environmental tobacco smoke exposure among pregnant women: impact on fetal biometry at 20–24 weeks of gestation and newborn child’s birth weight. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 77, 47–52 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-003-0475-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-003-0475-0

Keywords

Navigation