Prenatal exposure to nicotine and impaired reading performance.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To investigate whether prenatal exposure to nicotine has an impact on several reading skill outcomes in school age children.

Study design

Using a longitudinal sample of 5119 school age children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, this study investigated specific reading skill outcomes in the area of speed, fluency, accuracy, spelling, and comprehension in relation to prenatal nicotine exposure, after adjusting for potential mediators and confounders. Prenatal nicotine exposure was divided into 3 categories: high (>17 mg per day), low (≤17 mg per day), and no exposure.

Results

We found that prenatal nicotine exposure was associated with increased risk of underperformance in specific reading skill outcomes after adjusting for potential medi

SUBMITTER: Cho K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3577994 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature