Relation between Tobacco Smoking of Pregnant Women and Body Size of Their Progeny:A Compilation and Synthesis of Published Studies

Document Type

Article

Authors

Howard V. Meredith, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina

Abstract

Findings are systematized from studies in Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, West Germany, and the United States. The composite mean birthweight for 80,000 offspring of mothers not using tobacco during pregnancy ex­ceeds that for 56,000 offspring of cigarette smoking mothers by 0.17 kg. Infants born to women who smoked 10 or more cigarettes daily during pregnancy yield a mean birthweight lower than that for infants of non­smoking mothers by 0.20 kg; here each aggregate sample surpasses 29,000. Birthweights less than 2.50 kg are found for 3.6% of the progeny of 10,400 United States White women who did not smoke during pregnancy, and for 7.6% of the progeny of 4,600 United States White women who smoked 10 or more cigarettes daily; corresponding percentages from large samples of United States Black progeny are 9.0 and 17.8, respectively. Mean body length at birth is less by 0.4 cm for 3,800 infants of women who smoked during pregnancy than for 8,900 infants of women who did not use tobacco. At age 11 years, samples for 7,600 children of nonsmoking mothers and 1,300 children of mothers who smoked 10 or more cigarettes daily during pregnancy show that the latter are shorter in mean height by 1.0 cm. Cigarette smoking by pregnant women, on the basis of several studies, appears to be associated with higher neonatal mortality of offspring.

Recommended Citation

Meredith, Howard V. (1975) "Relation between Tobacco Smoking of Pregnant Women and Body Size of Their Progeny:A Compilation and Synthesis of Published Studies," Human Biology: Vol. 47: Iss. 4, Article 6.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol47/iss4/6