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A Pilot Study of Maternal Smoking in Lactation Increasing Infant Weight-for-length Gain

Undergraduate #314
Discipline: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics

Aliyah Glover - University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Co-Author(s): Wen X., Agostinelli A., Chen S., and Joshi C., University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY



Maternal smoking in pregnancy has been well-established as a risk factor for pediatric obesity. Postpartum smoking also may have significant impact on their child’s risk of developing obesity through highly concentrated tobacco metabolites in breast milk of smoking mothers that are associated with rapid infancy weight gain and high risk of childhood overweight. This important research and clinical question remained answered partially due to the challenge in separating out the effect of smoking in lactation from smoking in pregnancy and ambient air. Therefore, we aimed to examine the association between maternal smoking in lactation and infant post-weaning weight-for-length gain and to explore the mechanisms between the two. This research can advance scientific understanding on the developmental origins of obesity, and to assess mechanisms for the correlation between maternal smoking in lactation and infant weight-for-length gain. We plan to recruit 40 mother-infant pairs (infants aged 4-6 months with mothers who smoked before pregnancy but had quit in early pregnancy) from local pediatric offices. The groups will be split up based on infant feeding type and maternal smoking. The mother-infant pairs will come in for 3 lab visits: enrollment, 1-month and 2month follow ups. We will measure maternal smoking history by retrospective self-report at enrollment, maternal current smoking status will be verified by maternal urine, and infant tobacco exposure will be measured by infant urine and hair cotinine test. The outcomes will be weight-for-length gain (primary) and skinfold thickness gain (secondary) from enrollment to follow-ups. The mediators/mechanisms we are testing include post-weaning appetite, timing of introducing solid food, and infant energy intake. We will use a ‘difference in difference’ approach to isolate the effect of maternal smoking in lactation from smoking in pregnancy and ambient air on infant weight-for-length gain. These results will help to understand the causality/mechanisms and develop intervention to prevent abnormal infant growth and subsequent obesity related to maternal smoking in lactation all to solve the bigger picture ‘how to prevent childhood obesity.’

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This project is funded by a seed grant from the Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Buffalo. We would like to thank the Division of Behavioral Medicine, UB department of Pediatrics for their help. My research was supported by CLIMB PRO (Professional), School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo.

Faculty Advisor: Xiaozhong, N/A

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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