Prenatal exposure to maternal, but not paternal, tobacco smoking is associated with smoking in adolescence

Mounting epidemiological evidence suggests an association between prenatal tobacco exposure and an increased risk of tobacco smoking in offspring. However, it is uncertain whether the association is due to the intrauterine or shared environmental exposures. Study participants were from the Raine Study, a prospective birth cohort study based in Perth, Western Australia (N = 2730). Tobacco smoking in adolescents, at age 17 years, was measured using a self-reported questionnaire. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) of tobacco smoking in offspring exposed to maternal prenatal tobacco use during the first and third trimesters of pregnancy. We have also calculated the E-values to investigate the potential effect of unmeasured confounding. Paternal smoking during pregnancy was used as a negative control for comparison.