Smoking during pregnancy in relation to grandchild birth weight and BMI trajectories

Abstract

Background: Maternal smoking has been linked to lower birth weight and higher risk of childhood obesity. However, it is unknown whether grand-maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with grandchildren birth weight and body mass index (BMI) trajectories.

Methods: We investigated associations of smoking during pregnancy with birth weight, risks of overweight and BMI trajectories among 46,858 mother-child dyads and 6,583 grandmother-mother-child triads of three cohort studies of related individuals. Smoking during pregnancy was reported by mothers, and anthropometric data were provided by participants in each cohort.

Results: Compared to grandchildren of non-smoking women, grandchildren of women who smoked more than 14 cigarettes per day throughout pregnancy were 70 g (95% CI: 12, 129 g; P for trend = 0.01) heavier at birth, and 18% (95% CI: 4%, 34%; P for trend = 0.01) more likely to become overweight. The mean BMI of grandchildren of women who smoked during pregnancy was 0.45 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.14, 0.75 kg/m2; P for trend = 0.006) higher through adolescence and young adulthood than that of grandchildren of non-smoking mothers.

Conclusions: Grandmothers' smoking during pregnancy was associated with higher birth weight, higher risk of overweight, and higher BMI through adolescence and young adulthood.

Fig 1. Grandmothers’ smoking during pregnancy and the BMI trajectory of the offspring (F1-F3).

P values were obtained using generalized estimating equations (GEE) adjusting for age at BMI assessment (continuous), gestational age (quartiles), age at birth (quartiles), level of education (≤ 8 years, high school, college), as well as consumptions of alcohol (continuous), vegetable (continuous), fruit (continuous), meat (continuous), physical activity (low, high), and weight gain (quartiles) during pregnancy.