Maternal smoking during pregnancy may lead to strabismus
Zuxun Lu, of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, and colleagues conducted a meta‐analysis to summarize epidemiological evidence on the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and the risk of offspring strabismus.
In children with strabismus, the eyes do not properly align with each other. This can contribute to visual impairment and emotional problems.
For the study, the researchers searched for eligible studies from PubMed, Ovid, Embase, and CNKI databases up to May 2018. The qualities of included articles were assessed with the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and the assessment scale recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Begg's test and Egger's test were used to assess the publication bias. Eleven articles involving 4,833 patients with strabismus were included.
Key Findings:
- The pooled OR showed that maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with strabismus in offspring (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.32–1.60).
- Compared with less than 10 cigarettes per day (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.06–1.29), maternal smoking 10 cigarettes or more per day during pregnancy significantly increased the risk of offspring strabismus (OR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.39–2.31).
- The risk of developing esotropia and exotropia for smoking pregnant women, respectively, increased by 65% (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.31–2.09 and OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.24–2.19) than those who did not smoke during pregnancy.
- Additionally, the increased risk of maternity smoking associated with offspring strabismus was stable across all subgroup analyses.
"Maternal smoking during pregnancy is an important public health problem, particularly in developed countries, and its effect on offspring eye health deserves our attention," said Dr. Zuxun Lu.
"Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a significantly increased risk of offspring strabismus and the result was persistent in subgroup analyses, suggesting the importance in changing the smoking habit or smoking cessation for women who are pregnant or preparing to," concluded the authors.
For further reference follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1111/aos.13953
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