Cognitive Development in Infants of Mothers Exposed to Tobacco Smoke during Pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: To determine the cognitive development of infants born to mothers exposed and not exposed to tobacco smoke during gestation. Methods: analytical cross-sectional study, non-probabilistic sampling by quotas; from March to May 2020, 236 pairs (mother-child) attending a first care level unit participated; the Denver ii cognitive development test was applied. The inclusion criteria were infants with a complete vaccination schedule, weight and neonatal screening normal, mothers between 15 and 45 years of age with a history of normal-evolutionary pregnancy, and couples who reported exposure or non-exposure to tobacco smoke actively or passively during gestation. Descriptive statistics were performed for sociodemographic variables, the variable exposure to tobacco smoke was related to the cognitive development variable by means of the Spearman correlation coefficient and the strength of association was determined by means of the linear regression model. Results: the association of cognitive development with exposure to tobacco smoke reported a Spearman correlation of 0.227 (p<0.05) with a determination coefficient of 0.026. Conclusions: there was no statistically significant relationship between cognitive development of infants with exposure to tobacco smoke during gestation.