Adolescent girls who were exposed to tobacco smoke in utero are likely to start smoking and become addicted to tobacco than their peers without this effect, a new study finds.
"[S] Symptoms nicotine dependence and progression of tobacco use among adolescents may be associated with exposure to nicotine in the womb," the researchers write.
They note that the association is "reliable", taking into account several potential confounded, including parental social position and postnatal tobacco. Tobacco dependence "should be added to the risks of passive exposure to the intrauterine life," Rydell concluded Mina, MSc, from the Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of Epidemiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues.
Their study is published in the March issue of British Journal of Psychiatry.
Priming effect of brain
Nicotine crosses the placenta barrier and may lead to greater concentration than the fetus of maternal concentrations, the authors note in their report.
"Studies in animals and human cell systems have shown that prenatal exposure to nicotine may lead to the effect of priming the brain, where the fetus is exposed may be more vulnerable to tobacco dependence after tobacco use in later life," said Rydell Medscape Medical News.
Nevertheless, the results of previous epidemiological studies have been "inconsistent, and there is a distinctive lack of prospective longitudinal studies," she said.
The new findings stem from a prospective longitudinal study involving 3020 Swedish young men who were observed at about the age of 11 to 18 years. Tobacco use was assessed at baseline (11 years) and 6 times during the follow-through self-administered questionnaire. Annual interest involved ranged from 87% to 96%, with 69% of adolescents participate in all assessments.
About 27% of these young people have been prenatal exposed maternal tobacco smoke, while 43% were prenatal exposed to any parent of tobacco. During the follow-up, 1007 children have begun to use tobacco (41.7% of those exposed to maternal prenatal tobacco use, compared with 30.6% of those unexposed), of which 761 started smoking daily (33.7% of those exposed prenatal maternal tobacco use and 22.2% of those unexposed).
The corresponding figures for the current snus (Swedish smokeless tobacco) use was 38.3% of those exposed and 29.2% of those unexposed, the figures for those who took a daily snus use was 34.1% and 24.8% for those who is exposed and unexposed, respectively.
2-fold increase in risk
At age 17, girls are exposed to tobacco prenatally mother, and who took the smoking was approximately 2 times more likely as heavy tobacco use (5 or more cigarettes or snus dips per day, adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30 - 2.86), and a strong desire to tobacco use (adjusted OR, 2.04, 95% CI 1.28 - 3.32).
They also have 2 - 3 times higher probability of experiencing a large number of withdrawal symptoms (at least 4 vs. less than 4 symptoms, adjusted OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.68 - 4.87).
These associations were weaker among boys and did not reach statistical significance, which "adds strength to the hypothesis of a strong female vulnerability of the brain of the fetus to nicotine neurotically," say the authors. Such differences in gender have been reported in animal studies.
"There is growing not only indicate that girls are more vulnerable to prenatal exposure to nicotine, and that this difference concerns the measures of nicotine dependence, in contrast to the absorption of tobacco, which is more influenced by social factors," Ms. Ry dell said.
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