Partner smoking and maternal cotinine during pregnancy: implications for negative control methods.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Comparison of the associations of maternal and mother's partner smoking with offspring outcomes is, in theory, a useful method for assessing whether there may be an intrauterine effect of tobacco exposure on these outcomes. However, this approach assumes that the effects of passive smoking from exposure to partner smoking during pregnancy are minimal. We evaluated this assumption using a biochemical measure of tobacco exposure in pregnant women.

Methods

Cotinine levels taken during the first trimester of pregnancy were measured in a sample of 3928 women from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Median cotinine values were compared across categories of smoking heaviness (cigarettes per day) of the women during the first trimester and in non-smoking

SUBMITTER: Taylor AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4026952 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature