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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on June 12, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology 2007 166(5):571-575; doi:10.1093/aje/kwm128
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2007. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Risk of Spontaneous Abortion in Women with Childhood Exposure to Parental Cigarette Smoke

John D. Meeker1, Stacey A. Missmer2, Allison F. Vitonis2, Daniel W. Cramer2 and Russ Hauser3,4

1 Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
3 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
4 Vincent Memorial Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Andrology Laboratory and In Vitro Fertilization Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Correspondence to Dr. John Meeker, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 6635 SPH Tower, 109 South Observatory Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (e-mail: meekerj{at}umich.edu).

Received for publication December 18, 2006. Accepted for publication March 9, 2007.


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 References
 
There is increasing concern over whether environmental exposures early in life may impact health in adulthood. Recent evidence suggests that prenatal or childhood exposure to cigarette smoke may result in poorer reproductive health later in life. Among 2,162 nonsmoking women recruited from three Boston, Massachusetts, clinics who underwent assisted reproductive treatments between 1994 and 2003, adjusted odds ratios for pregnancy outcomes in the initial treatment cycle were calculated in relation to self-reported childhood exposure to parental cigarette smoke. Women who reported having two parents who smoked during their childhood had increased odds of a spontaneous abortion compared with women reporting that neither parent smoked (adjusted odds ratio = 1.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 3.0). A trend for increased risk was observed for women reporting that zero, one, or two parents smoked. In secondary analysis, the authors also found suggestive evidence for increased risk of failed embryo implantation among women reporting current secondhand tobacco smoke exposure. Future large studies of pregnancy loss are needed that can distinguish women's tobacco smoke exposure in childhood from that taking place in utero.

abortion, spontaneous; maternal exposure; parents; risk; tobacco smoke pollution; women

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 References
 
There is growing concern over whether in utero and/or childhood exposures to xenobiotics result in adverse health outcomes later in life (1–5). Among a multitude of potentially harmful toxicants in the environment, tobacco smoke is one of the most prevalent and preventable exposures among the general population (6). Evidence for associations between prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking and decreased male reproductive health (reduced semen quality) has been recently reported in large European epidemiologic studies (7–9). Similar reports for early female exposure to tobacco smoke and adverse reproductive effects as adults are limited to studies of fecundability (10). We recently conducted a study of maternal exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and pregnancy outcomes (11). In that study, a compelling finding emerged from a secondary aim, where the odds of experiencing a spontaneous abortion following assisted reproduction technologies were fourfold higher (odds ratio (OR) = 4.4, 95 percent confidence interval (CI): 1.0, 18.1) for women who reported that both of their parents smoked while the women were children compared with women who reported that neither of their parents smoked. It was hypothesized that the observed association was either due to chance, since a number of comparisons were made in the study, or perhaps represented an important exposure period for female reproductive development either in utero or as a child. The present study adds considerable size to the previous cohort to further test the robustness of the association. It includes subjects recruited over 10 years instead of 4 years from the previous work, with data from over 2,300 couples undergoing assisted reproduction technologies compared with 921 couples in the previous study.


   MATERIALS AND METHODS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 References
 
Couples in the present study overlap with those from our previous report. Study details have been described previously (11). Briefly, from August 1994 until June 2003, couples undergoing in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection were recruited through three Boston, Massachusetts, area clinics. Study protocols were approved by human research committees at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health, and the University of Michigan. Approximately 65 percent of couples who were approached agreed to participate. Couples who required either donor eggs or donor semen were excluded, as were couples who were gestational carriers and those who underwent gamete intrafallopian transfer. Following these exclusions, 2,350 couples were enrolled. An additional 188 couples were excluded from the analysis because the female partner was a smoker at the time of the first clinic visit, and another 713 couples diagnosed with male-factor infertility were excluded. Self-administered questionnaires obtained information about medical history and lifestyle factors, and details about first-cycle in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment and outcome were abstracted from clinical records. Self-reported secondhand tobacco smoke exposure at home (due to partner or other household member smoking) or at work was obtained through the self-administered questionnaire. In addition, participants' childhood exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke was estimated through questions on parental smoking while growing up. The following questions appeared on the questionnaire.

  1. Did your mother or father smoke any tobacco products when you were growing up?
    {square} Neither smoked
    {square} Mother smoked
    {square} Father smoked
    {square} Both smoked

  2. At home or at work are you regularly exposed to tobacco smoke in any of the following ways? (Check all that apply.)
    {square} At home from a spouse who smokes
    {square} At home from another household member who smokes
    {square} At work from a coworker in an unregulated smoking environment
    {square} At work from a coworker in a regulated smoking environment

Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed by fitting multiple logistic regressions to estimate the odds of a spontaneous abortion only on the subset of subjects that had not experienced a failure up to that point, instead of among all subjects (i.e., must have had a clinical pregnancy). For example, a woman/couple who experienced a failed implantation would not be included in the analysis for spontaneous abortion. Because implantation was the most common failure experience by the couples, it was included in the analysis as a secondary aim. Variables considered as potential confounders were age, race, body mass index, months trying to get pregnant, year of in vitro fertilization treatment, clinic/site of in vitro fertilization treatment, ovarian stimulation method, ampules of gonadotropin, number of oocytes transferred, assisted hatching, and day of embryo transfer. Inclusion of covariates in the final models was based on biologic and statistical considerations (12).


   RESULTS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
DISCUSSION
 References
 
Female partners from the couples recruited into the study had a mean age of 35 (standard deviation: 4.3) years, were primarily White (90 percent), and had never smoked (71 percent) (table 1). Ninety-six (4 percent) of the couples experienced a spontaneous abortion in their first cycle of assisted reproduction technologies (table 2). Among the first cycles, a high proportion (42 percent) of the couples experienced a failure at implantation, while just over one quarter (28 percent) experienced a successful livebirth. After exclusion of active smokers and couples with male factor infertility, 1,449 couples remained in the final analysis.


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  		TABLE 1. Study demographics for 2,162 nonsmoking women seeking fertility treatment, Boston, Massachusetts, 1994–2003*

 

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  		TABLE 2. Outcome of first in vitro fertilization cycle for 2,162 couples, Boston, Massachusetts, 1994–2003

 
In logistic regression models adjusted for age, year, and the number of embryos that were transferred (table 3), women who reported that both parents smoked while they were growing up had increased odds of experiencing a spontaneous abortion following their first cycle of assisted reproduction technologies treatment (OR = 1.8, 95 percent CI: 1.0, 3.0). Women who reported that only their mother smoked or only their father smoked had effect estimates near unity, while combining those into an "either (but not both) parent smoked" group resulted in a suggestively increased odds ratio (OR = 1.6, 95 percent CI: 0.8, 3.1). A test for trend showed that the odds of spontaneous abortion increased among women with zero, one, or two parents who smoked (per added parent, OR = 1.5, 95 percent CI: 1.1, 2.1). No associations between current exposures to secondhand smoke and spontaneous abortion were found, but those analyses had limited power because of a low number of women who reported secondhand exposure.


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  		TABLE 3. Adjusted* odds ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals for spontaneous abortion associated with parental and current exposure to smoking, Boston, Massachusetts, 1994–2003{dagger}

 
There were no associations between parental smoking during the women's childhood and risk of experiencing failure of implantation (table 4). However, women reporting any current exposure to secondhand smoke at home or at work had a suggestive increase in the odds of failed implantation compared with women reporting no secondhand exposure (OR = 1.4, 95 percent CI: 1.0, 2.1). When that variable was divided into exposure at home or at work, women exposed to a partner's smoke had a suggestive increased odds of implantation failure (OR = 1.7, 95 percent CI: 0.9, 3.0).


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  		TABLE 4. Adjusted{dagger} odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for failed implantation associated with parental and current exposure to smoking, Boston, Massachusetts, 1994–2003{ddagger}

 

   DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
References
 
The primary aim of the present study was to extend our earlier results using a larger study population to investigate the association between exposure to parental smoking as a child and increased risk of spontaneous abortion among pregnancies as an adult. We found that women reporting that both parents smoked when they (the women in the study) were children had increased odds of experiencing a spontaneous abortion as compared with women who reported that neither parent smoked. Secondary aims of the study were to explore associations between self-reported current exposure to secondhand smoke and risk of spontaneous abortion, as well as associations between current and past exposure to tobacco smoke and implantation failure—the most prevalent point of failure for those attempting to conceive via assisted reproduction technologies. Self-reported current exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke either at home or at work, or more specifically due to a smoking partner, was suggestively associated with increased odds of implantation failure.

Potential mechanisms involved in these reported associations have yet to be elucidated. However, tobacco smoke contains thousands of chemicals, a number of which are known or suspected reproductive toxicants (e.g., cadmium, lead, benzene, and so on) (13). In addition, fetal and childhood stages are critical developmental periods for virtually all tissues, organs, and systems in the body, and increased sensitivity to harmful exposures during these periods is of concern for immediate and latent adverse health outcomes.

Strengths of the present study include its size and the detailed, clinically verified documentation of pregnancy outcomes. In addition, because the study was conducted among couples undergoing assisted reproduction, it involved a motivated study group that likely resulted in a higher participation rate than would be achieved in a similarly invasive study among the general population. A study among couples undergoing assisted reproduction technologies also allowed for the exploration of contributing factors to early pregnancy loss (e.g., failed implantation) that is not possible to measure in a study among couples in the general population trying to get pregnant.

The present study also has several limitations. First, the exposure measures were based on self-report, which may introduce error and the potential for recall bias, though recall bias was not a concern since in vitro fertilization outcome was not known when the questionnaire was completed. Second, our ability to estimate the precise exposure window that was most relevant to the outcome was limited because we were unable to separate fetal exposures to direct or passive smoking from secondhand exposure in childhood. We assume that the group of women exposed to parental smoking as a child likely included a subset of women whose mothers also smoked during their pregnancy, and that mothers were unlikely to smoke during pregnancy and then quit while the women in the present study were children. However, the lack of an association between women whose mother was the only parent who smoked and spontaneous abortion provides limited evidence against the contribution of prenatal exposures to maternal smoking (11), unless maternal smoking during pregnancy was for some reason associated with having two parents that smoked during childhood but not with having only a mother who smoked during childhood. Another limitation of the present study was that information on frequency or magnitude of exposure was not collected to allow for the exploration of dose response. We also did not collect detailed exposure information from male partners, as paternal exposures to agents such as solvents may impact outcomes from assisted reproduction technologies (14). In the present study, this potential source of confounding would likely have been controlled to some degree by the exclusion of couples diagnosed with male-factor infertility (i.e., poor semen quality) from the primary data analyses. Finally, if infertile couples undergoing assisted reproduction technologies respond to cigarette smoke exposure differently from people in the general population, then the ability to generalize the results may be limited. Nevertheless, even if infertile couples undergoing assisted reproduction technologies represent only a population sensitive to tobacco smoke exposure, the results are still of interest.

In conclusion, results from the present study are in part consistent with our previous findings. In the present study, which was conducted among a larger population than was our previous report, the increased risk of having a spontaneous abortion when both parents smoked remained, although the magnitude of the effect was smaller (but with narrower confidence intervals). Other larger studies are needed to account for the low prevalence of spontaneous abortions. They should include more detailed exposure assessments that are also designed to distinguish women's tobacco smoke exposure in childhood from that taking place in utero.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
This work was supported by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, by grant R01-HD32153 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and by grant R01-ES013967 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of interest: none declared.


   References
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 References
 

  1. Sharpe RM, Skakkebaek NE. Are oestrogens involved in falling sperm counts and disorders of the male reproductive tract? Lancet (1993) 341:1392–5.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  2. Newbold RR. Lessons learned from perinatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol (2004) 199:142–50.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  3. Misra DP, Astone N, Lynch CD. Maternal smoking and birth weight: interaction with parity and mother's own in utero exposure to smoking. Epidemiology (2005) 16:288–93.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  4. David GL, Koh WP, Lee HP, et al. Childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and chronic respiratory symptoms in non-smoking adults: the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Thorax (2005) 60:1052–8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  5. Dietert RR, Piepenbrink MS. Perinatal immunotoxicity: why adult exposure assessment fails to predict risk. Environ Health Perspect (2006) 114:477–83.[Web of Science][Medline]
  6. Pirkle JL, Bernert JT, Caudill SP, et al. Trends in the exposure of nonsmokers in the U.S. population to secondhand smoke: 1988 –2002. Environ Health Perspect (2006) 114:853–8.[Web of Science][Medline]
  7. Storgaard L, Bonde JP, Ernst E, et al. Does smoking during pregnancy affect sons' sperm counts? Epidemiology (2003) 14:278–86.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
  8. Jensen TK, Jorgensen N, Punab M, et al. Association of in utero exposure to maternal smoking with reduced semen quality and testis size in adulthood: a cross-sectional study of 1,770 young men from the general population in five European countries. Am J Epidemiol (2004) 159:49–58.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  9. Jensen MS, Mabeck LM, Toft G, et al. Lower sperm counts following prenatal tobacco exposure. Hum Reprod (2005) 20:2559–66.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  10. Weinberg CR, Wilcox AJ, Baird DD. Reduced fecundability in women with prenatal exposure to cigarette smoking. Am J Epidemiol (1989) 129:1072–8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  11. Meeker JD, Missmer SA, Cramer DW, et al. Maternal exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke and pregnancy outcome among couples undergoing assisted reproduction. Hum Reprod (2007) 22:337–45.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  12. Hosmer DW Jr, Lemeshow S, eds. Model building strategies and methods for logistic regression. In: Applied logistic regression. (1989) New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. 82–134.
  13. Lindbohm ML, Sallmen M, Taskinen H. Effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke on reproductive health. Scand J Work Environ Health (2002) 28(suppl 2):84–96.[Web of Science][Medline]
  14. Tielemans E, van Kooij R, Looman C, et al. Paternal occupational exposures and embryo implantation rates after IVF. Fertil Steril (2000) 74:690–5.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]

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D. Best, Committee on Environmental Health, Committee on Native American Child Health, and Committee on Adolescence
Secondhand and Prenatal Tobacco Smoke Exposure
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