FETAL GROWTH IMPAIRMENT FROM SMOKING - IS IT INFLUENCED BY MATERNAL ANTHROPOMETRY

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.