Maternal Smoking Linked To Infantile Colic

Reuters Health

( Reuters Health) As reported in the October issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Edmond D. Shenassa, from Brown Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, and Dr. Mary-Jean Brown, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, reviewed the findings of six studies that looked at the link between maternal smoking and excessive crying or colic in infants.

The investigators found that only one of the studies used Wessel's "rule of threes" to define infantile colic: crying for at least 3 hours per day, at least 3 days per week, for at least 3 weeks. The other studies used less stringent criteria.

Findings from five of the studies support an independent association between maternal smoking and colic, as well as excessive crying, the researchers note. Further support comes from recent studies of the GI system, which have linked smoking with elevated motilin levels and higher-than-average motilin levels with an increased risk of colic.

Still, the authors note, the chain of events from maternal smoking to the development of infantile colic has not been documented in a single cohort. To do this, a prospective study starting during pregnancy is needed, they add.

"In the US, nearly one-half of all women smokers continue to smoke during their pregnancies," the investigators point out. "If, as we suspect, exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of colic, then this would provide additional incentive to parents to abstain from smoking."

Pediatrics 2004;114:e497-e505.

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