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Findings from two new studies suggest psychiatric consequences of exposure to cigarette smoke during fetal development and even in nonusing adults.
Ekblad and colleagues cross-referenced Finnish birth, hospital, and death registry data on 175,869 people born without major congenital anomalies between 1987 and 1989 (940f all singleton births). During pregnancy, 150f mothers smoked; 150f all children received psychiatric diagnoses. After adjustment for birth data and maternal psychiatric illness, maternal smoking significantly increased children's likelihood of receiving any psychiatric diagnosis by age 18, except schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa (odds ratios: maternal smoking <10 cigarettes/day, 1.53; >10 cigarettes/day, 1.85). After adjust…