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Cigarette smoking and birthweight: type of cigarette smoked and a possible threshold effect

Cigarette smoking and birthweight: type of cigarette smoked and a possible threshold effect
Cigarette smoking and birthweight: type of cigarette smoked and a possible threshold effect
The effects on birthweight of the number of cigarettes smoked and their tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields were investigated prospectively in 1309 pregnant women of whom 414 were smokers. Several approaches to modelling the effect of smoking were tried. These suggested that while both yield and quantity smoked were important, yield had the greatest effect. This led to an empirical approach whereby consistent smokers were divided into four categories according to whether they smoked a low or high quantity of cigarettes per day and whether they smoked low or high yield cigarettes. Using these four groups it emerged that women smoking a low quantity of low yield cigarettes had babies of a similar mean birthweight to those of non-smokers whereas those smoking a low quantity of high yield cigarettes had babies whose birthweight was reduced to the same degree (6% or more) as those of mothers who smoked higher quantities. This apparent threshold was estimated as 13 cigarettes/day and 15 mg/cigarette carbon monoxide. We conclude that brand smoked is at least as important as quantity and that in this population there is evidence for a threshold for tobacco smoke intake below which no discernible effect on birthweight is seen.
0300-5771
405-412
Peacock, Janet L.
1cb1242c-7606-4f8e-86d0-d3cd2ceff782
Bland, J.Martin
ed98b825-f235-4fab-8b9a-19b66a1d9a46
Anderson, H.Ross
aa726605-b80a-4a37-bcd3-c70fc52c0183
Brooke, O.G.
88db7f12-a26a-47ef-a6ec-936257ba03a5
Peacock, Janet L.
1cb1242c-7606-4f8e-86d0-d3cd2ceff782
Bland, J.Martin
ed98b825-f235-4fab-8b9a-19b66a1d9a46
Anderson, H.Ross
aa726605-b80a-4a37-bcd3-c70fc52c0183
Brooke, O.G.
88db7f12-a26a-47ef-a6ec-936257ba03a5

Peacock, Janet L., Bland, J.Martin, Anderson, H.Ross and Brooke, O.G. (1991) Cigarette smoking and birthweight: type of cigarette smoked and a possible threshold effect. International Journal of Epidemiology, 20 (2), 405-412.

Record type: Article

Abstract

The effects on birthweight of the number of cigarettes smoked and their tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields were investigated prospectively in 1309 pregnant women of whom 414 were smokers. Several approaches to modelling the effect of smoking were tried. These suggested that while both yield and quantity smoked were important, yield had the greatest effect. This led to an empirical approach whereby consistent smokers were divided into four categories according to whether they smoked a low or high quantity of cigarettes per day and whether they smoked low or high yield cigarettes. Using these four groups it emerged that women smoking a low quantity of low yield cigarettes had babies of a similar mean birthweight to those of non-smokers whereas those smoking a low quantity of high yield cigarettes had babies whose birthweight was reduced to the same degree (6% or more) as those of mothers who smoked higher quantities. This apparent threshold was estimated as 13 cigarettes/day and 15 mg/cigarette carbon monoxide. We conclude that brand smoked is at least as important as quantity and that in this population there is evidence for a threshold for tobacco smoke intake below which no discernible effect on birthweight is seen.

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Published date: 1991

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 72858
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72858
ISSN: 0300-5771
PURE UUID: b347bf57-9021-468c-a2c9-8194206378bb

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Date deposited: 03 Mar 2010
Last modified: 10 Dec 2021 16:46

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Contributors

Author: Janet L. Peacock
Author: J.Martin Bland
Author: H.Ross Anderson
Author: O.G. Brooke

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