Abstract
Introduction: Recent studies suggest that smoking exposure in pregnancy period might be a risk agent for childhood overweight and obesity. We examined associations between maternal smoking in pregnancy period and children’s weight and the possible obesogenic effects of maternal smoking. Methods: The present study was designed as a cross-sectional analysis of a survey. A 31-question survey was administered to mothers to learn the nutrition and smoking habits in Turkey from January to March 2020. Also, a 25-question survey was administered to children to study their diet. Participants were classified as underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. The smoking status of mothers was also recorded. The data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: The research group consisted of 454 participants (227 mothers, Mage=38.73±6.23 years and 227 children, Mage=10.39±4.96 years). In this study, 60.3% of children were underweight, 27.9% normal, 8.8% overweight, and 2.9% obese. Overall, 6.3% of children had smoking exposure and were overweight, whereas 1.4% were obese. Our results show that the relationship between maternal smoke exposure and body mass index (BMI) was non-significant (P>0.05). Children whose mothers did smoke in pregnancy period were at low risk for obesity (odds ratio [OR]=0.66, 95% CI: 0.07, 6.11) compared with children whose mothers never smoke. Conclusion: In this study, we found that the BMI of children not increased with maternal smoking exposure. In future, taking into consideration the health of mother and child, new studies should be performed to investigate the relationship between maternal or paternal smoking exposure and childhood overweight or obesity.
Highlights
Recent studies suggest that smoking exposure in pregnancy period might be a risk agent for childhood overweight and obesity
Children whose mothers did smoke in pregnancy period were at low risk for obesity compared with children whose mothers never smoke
Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had an elevated risk for obesity compared with children whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy (Table 6)
Summary
Recent studies suggest that smoking exposure in pregnancy period might be a risk agent for childhood overweight and obesity. In future, taking into consideration the health of mother and child, new studies should be performed to investigate the relationship between maternal or paternal smoking exposure and childhood overweight or obesity. Between 1975 and 2016, the obesity rate tripled in the world.[1] Researchers agree that too much caloric intake and too little exercise are both important factors in obesity prevalence, but studies suggest that toxic chemicals may be a factor.[2,3] Obesity risk factors include diet, sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, psychological factors, genetic syndromes, some endocrine diseases, and smoking exposure.[4,5] This study evaluated the possible obesogenic effects of smoking exposure. Studies show that chromium and cadmium supplemen2t.a5tion decrease body mass index (BMI) and fat.[6,7,8,9] Cigarette smoking causes polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and particulate matter (PM) exposure. PAH exposure blocks lipolysis, resulting in increased
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