Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jul 3;8(7):e67223.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067223. Print 2013.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and fetal organ growth: a magnetic resonance imaging study

Devasuda Anblagan  1 , Nia W Jones, Carolyn Costigan, Alexander J J Parker, Kirsty Allcock, Rosanne Aleong, Lucy H Coyne, Ruta Deshpande, Nick Raine-Fenning, George Bugg, Neil Roberts, Zdenka Pausova, Tomáš Paus, Penny A Gowland
Affiliations

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and fetal organ growth: a magnetic resonance imaging study

Devasuda Anblagan et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: To study whether maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with alterations in the growth of fetal lungs, kidneys, liver, brain, and placenta.

Design: A case-control study, with operators performing the image analysis blinded.

Setting: Study performed on a research-dedicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner (1.5 T) with participants recruited from a large teaching hospital in the United Kingdom.

Participants: A total of 26 pregnant women (13 current smokers, 13 non smokers) were recruited; 18 women (10 current smokers, 8 nonsmokers) returned for the second scan later in their pregnancy.

Methods: Each fetus was scanned with MRI at 22-27 weeks and 33-38 weeks gestational age (GA).

Main outcome measures: Images obtained with MRI were used to measure volumes of the fetal brain, kidneys, lungs, liver and overall fetal size, as well as placental volumes.

Results: Exposed fetuses showed lower brain volumes, kidney volumes, and total fetal volumes, with this effect being greater at visit 2 than at visit 1 for brain and kidney volumes, and greater at visit 1 than at visit 2 for total fetal volume. Exposed fetuses also demonstrated lower lung volume and placental volume, and this effect was similar at both visits. No difference was found between the exposed and nonexposed fetuses with regards to liver volume.

Conclusion: Magnetic resonance imaging has been used to show that maternal smoking is associated with reduced growth of fetal brain, lung and kidney; this effect persists even when the volumes are corrected for maternal education, gestational age, and fetal sex. As expected, the fetuses exposed to maternal smoking are smaller in size. Similarly, placental volumes are smaller in smoking versus nonsmoking pregnant women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. MR Images through the fetal brain in three orthogonal planes (HASTEbrain sequences), 24 weeks (V1) and 35 weeks (V2).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Brain growth data showing group results at both visits and individual data.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Kidney growth data showing group results at both visits and individual data.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Fetal growth data showing group results at both visits and individual data.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Lung growth data showing group results at both visits and individual data.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Placental growth data showing group results at both visits and individual data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mook-Kanamori DO, Steegers EAP, Eilers PH, Raat H, Hofman A, et al. (2010) Risk Factors and Outcomes Associated With First-Trimester Fetal Growth Restriction. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 303: 527–534. - PubMed
    1. Andres RL, Day M-C (2000) Perinatal complications associated with maternal tobacco use. Seminars in Neonatology 5: 231–241. - PubMed
    1. Haglund B, Cnattingius S (1990) Cigarette smoking as a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome: a population-based study. Am J Public Health 80: 29–32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Persson P-H, Grennert L, Gennser G, Kullander S (1978) A Study of Smoking and Pregnancy with Special Reference to Fetal Growth. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 57: 33–39. - PubMed
    1. Orleans CT, Barker DC, Kaufman NJ, Marx JF (2000) Helping pregnant smokers quit: meeting the challenge in the next decade. Tobacco Control 9: iii6–iii11. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types