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Reducing fetal origins of childhood obesity through maternal smoking cessation during pregnancy: an intervention study

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1435–1439 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Rapid infant weight gain predicts childhood obesity. We aimed to estimate effect size and identify critical timing for intervention-assisted smoking cessation during pregnancy to impact infant weight gain. We followed 25 mother–infant dyads in the UB Pregnancy and Smoking Cessation Study (Buffalo, NY, USA). Maternal smoking status was biochemically verified and monitored through pregnancy. Birth weight and length were extracted from birth records. Research staff measured infant weight and length at 2 weeks and monthly from 1 to 12 months of age. Mixed models were used to fit infant BMI-for-age z-score (ZBMI) trajectories. We found infants of quitters had lower ZBMI gain from birth to 12 months (mean ± SD, 1.13 ± 1.16) than infants of persistent smokers (2.34 ± 1.40; p = 0.035), with Cohen’s d effect size being large (0.96). The infant ZBMI gain from birth to 12 months was low (<0.47) if smoking cessation was initiated between 15 and 27 weeks of pregnancy, but started to increase if quitting at 28 weeks (0.65) and accelerated with time (e.g., 3.16 if quitting at 36 weeks). We concluded maternal smoking cessation during pregnancy may reduce fetal origins of obesity through reducing infant weight gain, especially if quitting smoking by 27 weeks of pregnancy.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the administrative support from Teresa Quattrin, MD, Former Chair, Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Buffalo; Vanessa M. Barnabei, MD, Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, State University of New York at Buffalo; and Aimée C. Gomlak, FACHE, MBA, BS, Vice President of Women’s Services of Catholic Health System, as well as the assistance on recruitment by the staff in the Kaleida Health OB/GYN Centers, the Sisters of Charity Hospital of Buffalo, the Buffalo Prenatal–Perinatal Network, Inc., and other local OB/GYN clinics. The authors also thank the study participants for their time and efforts, and Drs. Katelyn A. Carr and Tinuke Oluyomi Daniel for their assistance on training counselors.

Funding

This work was supported in part through Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Pilot Study support from National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant UL1TR001412, and seed funding from the Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Buffalo (both awarded to Xiaozhong Wen). STH received salary support from R01HD075669, R01HD078332, and P20GM103644 while assisting with this study. This work is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent official views of the sponsors. The funders had no role in writing the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Xiaozhong Wen, Kai Ling Kong, Abdal Aziz T. Shittu, Jacob M. Perkins, Priscilla Esadah, Taylor E. Mautner & Leonard H. Epstein

  2. Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Rina D. Eiden

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Faye E. Justicia-Linde

  4. Fisher Institute of Health and Well-being, Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, College of Health, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, 47306, USA

    Youfa Wang

  5. Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05401, USA

    Stephen T. Higgins

Authors
  1. Xiaozhong Wen
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  2. Rina D. Eiden
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  3. Faye E. Justicia-Linde
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  4. Youfa Wang
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  5. Stephen T. Higgins
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  6. Kai Ling Kong
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  7. Abdal Aziz T. Shittu
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  8. Jacob M. Perkins
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  9. Priscilla Esadah
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  10. Taylor E. Mautner
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  11. Leonard H. Epstein
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Correspondence to Xiaozhong Wen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All study procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on social and behavioral science research and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Informed consent

All participants signed consent form and this study was approved by University at Buffalo Institutional Review Board.

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Wen, X., Eiden, R.D., Justicia-Linde, F.E. et al. Reducing fetal origins of childhood obesity through maternal smoking cessation during pregnancy: an intervention study. Int J Obes 43, 1435–1439 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0267-y

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