The risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to lack of e-cigarette smoking exposure: a systematic review

Abstract

E-cigarette use has been reported to be 7% among pregnant women. Nearly half believe they are less dangerous than regular cigarette smoking, which might encourage individuals to give up or cut back on traditional cigarette use while pregnant. However, studies has found a correlation between using e-cigarettes while pregnant and a higher risk of low birth weight and fetal development limitation. This is an updated systematic analysis of publications from 2019 to 2022 that explored the adverse effects of e-cigarette smoking on pregnancy outcomes compared to no e-cigarette use. Google scholar and PubMed databases were used for systematic literature search using keywords "e-cigarette, pregnancy, adverse effects, exposure to e-cigarettes, and lack of e-cigarette exposure." The inclusion criteria were the original research that detailed the adverse effects of e-cigarette smoking on pregnancy outcomes compared to no e-cigarette smoking and full-text articles. Among 160 articles collected, just 9 met the inclusion requirements. Seventy-six thousand four hundred ninety-seven people were involved in all the studies, six of which were cross-sectional, one prospective, and one qualitative. Few pregnant women believe e-cigarettes are a healthy alternative to conventional smoking. However, half of the participants thought vaping was harmful to both them and their developing fetuses. On the other hand, several studies revealed that infants exposed to cigarette and e-cigarette smoke had significantly more defective reflexes. Their younger age influenced women's use of e-cigarettes, lack of marriage, fewer years of formal education, living with a smoker, long-term smokers, high school education or more, an income of $30,000, being white and not of Hispanic origin.