142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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315429
Does grandparental smoking influence body size? A three-generational study

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 1:15 PM - 1:30 PM

Marcelle Dougan , Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Alison Fields , Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Janet Rich-Edwards , Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Susan Hankinson , Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Amherst, MA
Robert Glynn , Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Walter Willett , Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Karin Michels , Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital,, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  
Background:Data from previous studies consistently suggest that maternal smoking is positively associated with the risk of obesity later in life.  Whether this association persists across generations is unknown. 

Methods:We investigated the association between grandparent smoking status and grandchild overweight status among 3101 grandmother-mother-child triads in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), the NHS Mothers’ Cohort Study, and the children of NHS II participants who are in the Growing up Today Study (GUTS).  Grandmothers of children provided information on their and their partner’s smoking during pregnancy with the child’s mother.  Information on child's weight and height at ages 12 and 17 was obtained by self-report from the GUTS questionnaires.  We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of being overweight or obese, relative to normal weight.

Results: Seventy-five percent of grandmothers reportedly did not smoke during pregnancy, while 4% quit during pregnancy, 13% continued smoking up to 14 cigarettes/day, and 7% smoked 15+ cigarettes daily throughout pregnancy. Grand-maternal smoking was not associated with being overweight or obese at age 12 or 17 years, in boys or in girls.  After adjusting for multiple covariates, the OR of being overweight or obese relative to normal weight at age 12 years in girls whose grandmothers smoked 15+ cigarettes per day during pregnancy with their mothers was 1.23 (95% CI 0.75-2.01; ptrend = 0.25) and 1.08 (0.65-1.97; ptrend = 0.34) in boys.   Grand-paternal smoking was positively associated with being overweight or obese at age 12 years in girls but not  boys, and not at age 17 years for either: the OR for being overweight or obese at age 12 years was 1.46 (95% CI 1.07-1.99; ptrend = 0.01) in girls, and 1.26 (95% CI 0.94-1.70; ptrend = 0.11) in boys.  After restricting to children of non-smoking mothers, the comparable OR for granddaughter obesity was attenuated and no longer significant [OR 1.35 (95% CI 0.93-1.97; ptrend= 0.10)].

Conclusions:  Our findings suggest that grand-maternal smoking is not associated with adolescent overweight status in the grandchild.  However, grand-paternal smoking may affect overweight status of the granddaughter, likely through the association between grand-paternal smoking and maternal smoking.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Analyze the association between grand-parental smoking and grandchild obesity

Keyword(s): Epidemiology, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been interested in in utero determinants of health for a number of years. This study was one of my doctoral thesis papers.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3243.0: Recent Findings in Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Epidemiological Studies