Prenatal smoking may cause ADHD

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have children who develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new UK study.



Research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry used questionnaires to assess children's ADHD symptoms, maternal smoking during pregnancy, conduct disorder symptoms, and family adversity in a population-based sample of 1452 twin pairs.



Maternal smoking during pregnancy showed 'a significant environmentally mediated association with ADHD symptoms'.



'Our findings extend previous work by being the first to demonstrate that the association of prenatal smoking with ADHD remains even when the additional substantial genetic contribution to ADHD symptoms is included and when we examine association between data from different raters in a populations-based sample,' the authors conclude.



Reference: Thapar A et al (2003) Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Offspring Am J Psychiatry 160 (11) 1985-1989.