Maternal smoking during pregnancy negatively affects brain volumes proportional to intracranial volume in adolescents born very preterm.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been shown to associate with smaller frontal lobe and cerebellar volumes in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term age in very preterm infants. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on volumetric brain MRI findings at 13 years. We hypothesized that adverse effects of smoking during pregnancy on brain volumes are still seen during adolescence.

Methods

Included adolescents were born very preterm (gestational age < 32 weeks and/or birth weight ≤ 1,500 g) between April 2004 and December 2006 at the Turku University Hospital, Finland. Information on maternal smoking status (yes or no) during pregnancy was collected from medical records and maternal questionnaires before dischar

SUBMITTER: Ekblad MO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9849910 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature