Study Links Maternal Smoking to Asthma in Third Generation Offspring

In a new finding, researchers have seen a strong association between maternal smoking and third generation offspring suffering from chronic lung disease.

A team of researchers from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) has discovered that maternal nicotine exposure during pregnancy is related to asthma in the third generation offspring.

This association identified in this study is referred to as 'transgenerational linkage' as the third generation is not exposed to direct nicotine or smoking. Studies conducted earlier revealed the association between nicotine exposure and asthma but this was just limited to the second generation offspring.

"Even though there are multiple causes for childhood asthma, research linking this serious chronic condition to maternal nicotine exposure during pregnancy for up to three generations should give mothers-to-be even more reasons to reconsider smoking," said Virender K. Rehan, MD, an LA BioMed lead researcher. "Eliminating the use of tobacco during pregnancy could help halt the rise in childhood asthma and ensure healthier children for generations to come."

According to the study, there are 300 million people around the world living with asthma. Nearly 250 million are addicted to smoking daily and by 2025 the number of people suffering with asthma is expected to increase by a third touching 400 million. In the U.S. nearly 12 percent women continue smoking during pregnancy and this leads to the birth of 400,000 smoke-exposed infants per year in the U.S. alone.

The study is published in the journal Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.