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. 2024 Apr 13;23(1):37.
doi: 10.1186/s12940-024-01076-0.

Early life exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and eating behaviors at age 12 years

Nerea Mourino  1 , Zhuoya Zhang  2 , Mónica Pérez-Ríos  1   3   4 , Kimberly Yolton  5 , Bruce P Lanphear  6 , Aimin Chen  7 , Jessie P Buckley  8 , Heidi J Kalkwarf  5 , Kim M Cecil  5   9 , Joseph M Braun  10
Affiliations

Early life exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and eating behaviors at age 12 years

Nerea Mourino et al. Environ Health. .

Abstract

Background: Prenatal or early childhood secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure increases obesity risk. However, the potential mechanisms underlying this association are unclear, but obesogenic eating behaviors are one pathway that components of SHS could perturb. Our aim was to assess associations of prenatal and early childhood SHS exposure with adolescent eating behaviors.

Methods: Data came from a prospective pregnancy and birth cohort (N = 207, Cincinnati, OH). With multiple informant models, we estimated associations of prenatal (mean of 16 and 26 weeks of gestation maternal serum cotinine concentrations) and early childhood cotinine (average concentration across ages 12, 24, 36, and 48 months) with eating behaviors at age 12 years (Child Eating Behaviors Questionnaire). We tested whether associations differed by exposure periods and adolescent's sex. Models adjusted for maternal and child covariates.

Results: We found no statistically significant associations between cotinine measures and adolescent's eating behaviors. Yet, in females, prenatal cotinine was associated with greater food responsiveness (β: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.38) and lower satiety responsiveness (β: -0.14; 95% CI: -0.26, -0.02); in males, prenatal and postnatal cotinine was related to lower food responsiveness (prenatal: β: -0.25; 95% CI: -0.04, -0.06; postnatal: β: -0.36; 95% CI: -0.06, -0.11). No significant effect modification by sex or exposure window was found for other eating behaviors.

Conclusion: Prenatal and early childhood SHS exposures were not related to adolescent's eating behavior in this cohort; however, biological sex may modify these associations.

Keywords: Adolescents; Cotinine; Eating behaviors; Secondhand tobacco smoke.

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Conflict of interest statement

JMB’s institution was financially compensated for his services as an expert witness for plaintiffs in litigation related to PFAS-contaminated drinking water; these funds were not paid to JMB directly. The other authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Spearman correlation coefficients between Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) dimensions among HOME Study adolescents (N = 207). Abbreviations: FAp, food approach summary score; FR, food responsiveness; EOE, emotional overeating; EF, enjoyment of food; DD, desire to drink; FAv, food avoidance summary score; SR, satiety responsiveness; SE, slowness in eating; EUE, emotional
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