Effects of maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy on long-term physical and cognitive parameters of child development.

The negative impact of maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy on the growth and development of the foetus has been well documented. However, the long-term effects of the subsequent cognitive and physical development of the child are less clearly understood. This article presents a critical review of the literature on this topic. The review shows that the effects of prenatal exposure to smoking on children's physical development are mediated by a dose-response relationship. Although the observed effects are long term, they are small and may have no major functional importance. The evidence on the long-term consequences of intellectual function is still unclear. One reason is that very few studies have looked at the long-term consequences of maternal smoking on both physical and cognitive development. More effort is needed to investigate this important issue.