Smoking in pregnancy, adolescent mental health and cognitive performance in young adult offspring: results from a matched sample within a Finnish cohort ...

• Main Authors: Ramsay, H, Barnett, JH, Murray, GK, Mäki, P, Hurtig, T, Nordström, T, Miettunen, J, Kiviniemi, V, Niemelä, S, Pausova, Z, Paus, T, Veijola, J
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central 2016
• Subjects: cognition; inattention and hyperactivity; prenatal smoking; psychotic-like experiences; Northern Finland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.7019; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/261802

$\textbf{Background:}$ The association between prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking (PEMCS) and adult cognition is debated, including if there are differences according to sex. We aimed to determine if there are associations between PEMCS and cognition in early adulthood in men and women and examine if observed associations were mediated by adolescent mental health factors that are associated with cognition, namely psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), inattention and hyperactivity, and other externalizing behaviors. $\textbf{Methods:}$ Participants were 471 individuals drawn from the general population-based Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort (NFBC 1986) followed up from pregnancy and birth to early adulthood; individuals with PEMCS were matched with those without PEMCS by socioeconomic and demographic factors. Cognitive performance in adulthood was assessed with a range of tests and their association with PEMCS was measured by sex using hierarchical linear regression, unadjusted and then ...