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Epidemiology and Population Health

Is grand-parental smoking associated with adolescent obesity? A three-generational study

International Journal of Obesity volume 40, pages 531–537 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Data from previous studies consistently suggest that maternal smoking is positively associated with obesity later in life. Whether this association persists across generations is unknown. We examined whether grand-parental smoking was positively associated with overweight status in adolescence.

Subject/Methods:

Participants were grandmother-mother-child triads in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), the Nurses Mothers’ Cohort Study and the Growing up Today Study (GUTS). Grandmothers provided information on their and their partner’s smoking during pregnancy with the child’s mother. Information on child’s weight and height at ages 12 (N=3094) and 17 (N=3433) was obtained from annual or biennial GUTS questionnaires. We used logistic regression to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of being overweight or obese, relative to normal weight.

Results:

Grand-maternal smoking during pregnancy was not associated with overweight status in adolescence. After adjusting for covariates, the OR of being overweight or obese relative to normal weight at age 12 years in girls whose grandmothers smoked 15+ cigarettes daily during pregnancy was 1.21 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74–1.98; Ptrend=0.31) and 1.07 (0.65–1.77; Ptrend=0.41) in boys. Grand-paternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with being overweight or obese at age 12 in girls only, but not at age 17 for either sex: the OR for being overweight or obese at age 12 was 1.38 (95% CI 1.01–1.89; Ptrend=0.03) in girls and 1.31 (95% CI 0.97–1.76; Ptrend=0.07) in boys. Among children of non-smoking mothers, the OR for granddaughter obesity for grand-paternal smoking was attenuated and no longer significant (OR 1.28 (95% CI 0.87–1.89; Ptrend=0.18)).

Conclusions:

Our findings suggest that the association between maternal smoking and offspring obesity may not persist beyond the first generation. However, grand-paternal smoking may affect the overweight status of the granddaughter, likely through the association between grand-paternal smoking and maternal smoking.

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Acknowledgements

The Nurses' Mothers Cohort Study was funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Cancer Institute research contract N02-RC-17027, and by PO 263 MQ 411027 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. The Nurses’ Health Study II is supported by Public Health Service grant CA50385 and by infrastructure grant UM1 CA176726 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. The Growing Up Today Study is supported by DK084001, MH087786 and HL096905 from the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. We thank the participants of the Nurses’ Mothers Cohort Study, the Nurses’ Health Study II and the Growing Up Today Study for their participation and dedication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    M M Dougan, A E Field, J W Rich-Edwards, S E Hankinson, W C Willett & K B Michels

  2. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    A E Field, J W Rich-Edwards, S E Hankinson, W C Willett & K B Michels

  3. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    A E Field

  4. Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    J W Rich-Edwards

  5. Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Amherst, MA, USA

    S E Hankinson

  6. Division of Preventive Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    R J Glynn

  7. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    R J Glynn

  8. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    W C Willett

  9. Department of Obstetrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    K B Michels

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  1. M M Dougan
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Correspondence to K B Michels.

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Dougan, M., Field, A., Rich-Edwards, J. et al. Is grand-parental smoking associated with adolescent obesity? A three-generational study. Int J Obes 40, 531–537 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.186

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