K K Venkatesh, A Leviton, R N Fichorova, R M Joseph, L M Douglass, J A Frazier, Kck Kuban, H P Santos Jr, R C Fry, T M O’Shea
BJOG. 2021 Sep;128(10):1586-1597. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16690. Epub 2021 Apr 6. PMID: 33682301.
PubMed Link Of 1200 ELGAN study survivors, 856 were assessed at 10 years of age with neurological outcomes, of whom 14% (118/856) had active tobacco exposure during pregnancy and 24% (207/852) had passive tobacco exposure. Compared with children who were not exposed prenatally to tobacco, children exposed to active tobacco use during pregnancy had a higher risk of epilepsy (14% versus 5%; adjusted relative risk: 1.68, 95% CI 1.45-1.92). This risk remained after adjustment for gestational age at delivery and clinical subtype of preterm birth. Prenatal tobacco smoke exposure was not associated with other assessed neurological outcomes, including cerebral palsy and multiple measures of cognitive impairment.Among children born extremely preterm, prenatal active tobacco smoke exposure was associated with an increased risk of epilepsy at 10 years of life.