Prenatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and language development in toddlers

Abstract

Background: Maternal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) associated with children’s neurobehavioral development has been reported. There is also a study indicating that maternal smoking during pregnancy can affect newborns’ speech processing ability. Language is a result of cognitive development; however, there is no study focus on the effects of maternal ETS exposure during pregnancy to toddlers’ language and communication development. Aims: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of prenatal exposure to ETS on the language development in toddlers. Methods: A total of 103 children from the Taiwan Birth Panel Study (TBPS) were followed up in northern Taiwan. We enrolled their mothers before delivery, interviewed them using a structured questionnaire, and collected umbilical cord blood. Umbilical cord cotinine, a blood indicator of prenatal ETS exposure, was analyzed by using HPLC-MS/MS. The Mandarin-Chinese Communicative Developmental Inventory (MCDI) for toddlers was used to assess these children’s language and communication development at 2 years of age. We examined the children’s language development between exposed and control groups by multiple linear and logistic regression models to control for potential confounders. Results: Maternal ETS exposure during pregnancy was negatively associated with language and communication development. The adverse effects to the exposed group was significantly showed on the total MCDI score (?=-71.04; p=0.0396), word produced part (?=-65.81; p=0.0433) and syntax complexity part (?=-4.91; p=0.146) in multiple linear regression models. Conclusions: Our results indicate that maternal ETS exposure was related to the adverse effects on early children’s language development. Further studies are needed to clarify the causal relationship between cord blood cotinine and children’s language development.