B. Zaren et al., FETAL GROWTH IMPAIRMENT FROM SMOKING - IS IT INFLUENCED BY MATERNAL ANTHROPOMETRY, Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 76, 1997, pp. 30-34
Background. It has been suggested that the effect of maternal smoking
on fetal growth is partly mediated through nutritional factors. Object
ive. To assess the effects of maternal smoking on birthweight in term
pregnancies among mothers with different anthropometric stature. Desig
n. A prospective study from early pregnancy of healthy parous women an
d their infants. Setting. Three Scandinavian university hospitals cove
ring all deliveries from well defined geographic areas. Subjects. Smok
ing (774) and non-smoking (325) mothers, para 1 and 2 and with >36 wee
ks gestational length. Main outcome measure. Birthweight. Results. Mat
ernal age, smoking, pre-pregnancy weight, height, body mass index and
pregnancy weight gain all independently influenced birthweight. Smokin
g mothers had significantly lower pre-pregnancy weight and lower body
mass index compared to nonsmoking mothers. The negative influence of s
moking on birthweight appeared to be uniformly distributed throughout
all the different maternal height and weight groups. Conclusions. Birt
hweight was negatively related to amount cigarettes smoked per day and
no protective effect could be demonstrated from higher maternal weigh
t, pregnancy weight gain or body mass index.