Abstract
There has been no reported systematic exploration of the hypothesis that the low birthweight of infants whose mothers smoke in pregnancy is mediated by depressed caloric intake. Using gestational weight gain as an index of energy balance, we have studied this question among 162 mothers and their liveborn singleton infants, in a poor, black, urban American community. Smoking mothers had lower mean weekly weight gain (.73 vs. .90 Ibs/w; t=2.63, p< .01), and a strong and highly significant gradient of decreasing weight gain with increased amount smoked (.017 fewer 1bs/ w. gained per additional cigarette/d; F=12.45, p< .005). Women who stopped smoking before delivery had higher weight gain than those who continued; the difference was not significant, but numbers were small. Regression analyses were performed in order to quantitate the unique and joint contributions of smoking and change in maternal weight to birthweight. With all analyses, at least half, and usually closer to three quarters of the effect of smoking on birthweight was jointly shared with weight change. Smoking is in all likelihood depressing fetal growth, in large part, by depression of caloric intake, as reflected in lower maternal weight gain.
No other examined differences between smokers and non-smokers accounted for these differences.
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Rush, D., James, L. LOWER WEIGHT GAIN AMONG SMOKERS EXPLAINS MOST OF THE EFFECT OF SMOKING ON BIRTHWEIGHT. Pediatr Res 8, 450 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00663
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00663