A recent study points to a link between mothers who smoked during pregnancy and babies having an increased risk of developing high cholesterol as adults.
Increasing evidence suggests there is a link between being born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) — smaller than normal for the baby’s sex and at what week in pregnancy the child was born — and having high cholesterol in adulthood, Xiaozhong Wen of Harvard Medical School, in Boston, told Reuters Health.
But Wen and his colleagues were curious if it was just certain groups of people born SGA, or in the bottom 10th percentile for gestational age, that carried the highest risk.
The team wondered if birth size was more to blame than coexisting environmental factors that trigger the serious condition, which can lead to heart disease and stroke?
To shed light on the matter, the team studied the birth records and cholesterol levels of more than 1,350 adults, who were 39 years old, on average. About 25 percent — or 345 people — reported having high cholesterol. Thirty-four percent of subjects with high cholesterol were born SGA, while 24 percent were born at an age-appropriate size.
When digging deeper, the researchers found that only the adults born SGA whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were at an increased risk of developing high cholesterol. After taking into account other puzzling factors, those exposed to a pregnant mother’s heavy smoking — more than a pack a day — had 2.5 times the risk.
Those born SGA to non-smoking moms were not an increased risk compared to peers born at normal sizes, the researchers found. And the normal sized babies who were born to smoking mothers also didn’t appear any more likely to develop high cholesterol compared to those not exposed.
“It seems to be the co-existence of maternal smoking during pregnancy and SGA that put offspring at high risk,” suggested Wen.
Wen acknowledged the study had some limitations, including its observational nature that precludes proving cause and effect, and a small number of participants that were actually born SGA.
Wen said he and his team are planning to expand their research to other diseases, including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. “Besides maternal smoking, other possible co-factors, such as genetics, nutrition and stress, should also be considered,” he said.
For now, the findings give pregnant women one more good reason to stop smoking, said Wen.
Results of the research are published in the journal Epidemiology.
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