The Effects of Maternal Cigarette Smoking on Infant Anthropometric Measurements

Background: The association between maternal smoking and poor pregnancy outcome, which is well established in medical literature, has also been corroborated by the results of this study conducted in a Turkish hospital. Our objective was to investigate the effects of cigarette smoking during pregnancy on infant head circumference, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). Methods: In this retrospective study, the data was collected from the Medical Live Birth Registry in a maternity hospital with the largest capacity of births in a city of northwest Turkey during 2002. Results: We found that 16.4% (1040/6332) of mothers investigated had smoked during their pregnancy, with a mean of 5 cigarettes per day. Head circumference, height, weight and BMI values of male infants whose mothers smoked were found to be less than those of infants whose mothers did not smoke (P> 0.05, for each one). Head circumference, height, weight and BMI values of female infants whose mothers smoked were less than those whose mothers did not smoke (P> 0.05, P< 0.01, P< 0.05 and P> 0.05, respectively). According to analysis of variance, infant head circumferences, heights and weights in all infants decreased as the rate of the mother’s smoking increased (P> 0.05, P< 0.001 and P> 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: The results support that maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a linear reduction of height measurement, and the infants appeared to be more susceptible to the growth retarding effects of cigarette smoking on height. Thus, if cessation-of-smoking programs are initiated before conception, many of the harmful effects of smoking on fetal growth might be prevented.