Is the growth of the child of a smoking mother influenced by the father's prenatal exposure to tobacco? A hypothesis generating longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES: Transgenerational effects of different environmental exposures are of major interest, with rodent experiments focusing on epigenetic mechanisms. Previously, we have shown that if the study mother is a non-smoker, there is increased mean birth weight, length and body mass index (BMI) in her sons if she herself had been exposed prenatally to her mother's smoking. The aim of this study was to determine whether the prenatal smoke exposure of either parent influenced the growth of the fetus of a smoking woman, and whether any effects were dependent on the fetal sex. DESIGN: Population-based prebirth cohort study. SETTING: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were residents of a geographic area with expected date of delivery between April 1991 and December 1992. Among pregnancies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy, data were available concerning maternal and paternal prenatal exposures to their own mother smoking for 3502 and 2354, respectively. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Birth weight, length, BMI and head circumference. RESULTS: After controlling for confounders, there were no associations with birth weight, length or BMI. There was a strong adjusted association of birth head circumference among boys whose fathers had been exposed prenatally (mean difference −0.35 cm; 95% CI −0.57 to −0.14; p=0.001). There was no such association with girls (interaction p=0.006). Similar associations were found when primiparae and multiparae were analysed separately. In order to determine whether this was reflected in child development, we examined the relationships with IQ; we found that the boys born to exposed fathers had lower IQ scores on average, and that this was particularly due to the verbal component (mean difference in verbal IQ −3.65 points; 95% CI −6.60 to −0.70). CONCLUSIONS: Head size differences concerning paternal fetal exposure to smoking were unexpected and, as such, should be regarded as hypothesis generating

Low level lead exposure and pregnancy outcomes:dose–response relationships

BACKGROUND: National and international guidelines on safe levels for blood Pb in pregnancy focus on a threshold above which exposure is of concern. However, it has recently been suggested that the decrease in birth weight per unit increase in blood Pb is actually greater at lower than at higher concentrations of Pb without evidence of a lower threshold of effect. Our aim was to investigate whether there was evidence for a differential effect of maternal Pb levels on birth outcomes and/or a threshold value for effects. METHODS: Blood samples from pregnant women enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were analysed. Data collected on the infants included anthropometric variables. We fitted adjusted multivariable fractional polynomial models for birth outcomes. RESULTS: Adjusted models that assumed a linear relationship between untransformed blood Pb and the outcomes provided the best fit: an increase of 1 µg/dl was associated with changes in birth weight of −9.93 (95 % CI −20.27, 0.41) g, head circumference −0.03 (95 % CI −0.06, 0.00) cm and crown–heel length −0.05 (95 % CI −0.10, 0.00) cm. CONCLUSION: There was no evidence in this study to suggest a supralinear dose–response relationship or a lower threshold for the effect of maternal blood Pb on birth outcomes. This has implications for consideration of national and international guidelines on levels of concern in pregnancy. Exposure to Pb should be kept as low as possible during pregnancy to minimise adverse outcomes

The housing environment of participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC):a resource for studies of influences on health [version 1; peer review: 2 approved with reservations].

Background: Early life environmental health exposures related to housing can have a significant impact on an individual’s physical and mental health and physical development. Housing exposures can fall into two main areas – a representation of social circumstances and physical conditions.   Methods: During pregnancy and post-delivery, self-completion questionnaires concerning the housing environment were administered to the ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents & Children) study mothers and their partners until the study offspring were aged 18. Data collected included types of housing, housing tenure, numbers of rooms in the home, whether shared or sole use of kitchen and indoor flushing toilet, household moves, Council Tax band, difficulties in affording rent/mortgage and becoming homeless. Here we also describe the historic development of housing in the Bristol and surrounding Avon areas. Results: Data collected included the tenure (e.g., owned/rented) of the home, its size (indexed by the number of rooms), the presence of over-crowding (measured by the number of residents per room), presence of amenities, and frequency of household moves. This information was collected on over 13,000 women during pregnancy >8000 at age 10 and >4000 at 18 years. Council Tax bands were asked at 10 and 18 years.   Conclusions: This is the first of two Data Notes on the housing type and housing circumstances of the families enrolled in ALSPAC. The second Data Note will detail their internal housing conditions. The data provides an excellent resource for researchers when considering the influences of housing on physical and mental health and development

Parental spiritual and religious beliefs and behaviour data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, 2020

There are few studies that chart the ways in which the religious beliefs and practices of parents and their offspring vary over time. Even fewer can relate this to aspects of their physical and mental health or distinguish the different facets of the environment that may have influenced the development or loss of religious/spiritual belief and behaviours over time. This paper describes the recent data collection in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) on the beliefs and behaviours of the study parents some 27-28 years after the first measures were collected. Questions that were previously administered to the mother and her partner on religion, spirituality, behaviours, and beliefs (RSBB) were repeated for the fourth time, together with enhanced data on RSBB. The new data are described and compared with previous responses. The most notable difference between the 9 year and the 2020 sweep was the increase of professed non-believers in both the mothers (17.5% vs 29.8%) and partners (31.9% vs. 45.3%). As expected, on each occasion study partners were less likely to acknowledge RSBB compared to the study mothers. In the latest sweep, respondents were less likely to be unsure if they believed and more likely to not believe. Responses to “Do you believe in God or a divine power?” in mothers ranged from 49.9% stating ‘yes’ antenatally to 43.5% doing so in 2020; 14.9% vs 29.8% for ‘no’ and 35.2% to 26.6% for ‘not sure’. For partners, the corresponding figures are: ‘yes’ 37.0% vs. 30.0%; ‘no’ 28.6% vs. 45.3% and ‘not sure’ 34.5% vs. 24.6%. We plan to undertake detailed analyses of the antecedents and consequences of RBSS. All data are available for use by interested researchers