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5. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN CHILDHOOD WITH FATHER’S SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN CHILDHOOD WITH FATHER’S SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY

Mora-Urda Ana Isabel, Montero Pilar

Physical Anthropology, Biology Department, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Mora-Urda Ana Isabel, e-mail: anabelmoraurda@hotmail.com; Montero Pilar, e-mail: pilar.montero@uam.es.

Abstract

Studies about children health have historically considered aspects related to mothers’ health and mothers’ behaviors as determinants of optimal fetal development and subsequent health of children, however, there is little information about the influence of the fathers behaviors. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between father’s smoking during pregnancy with obesity and arterial stiffness in children. The sample consisted of 300 children (8 to 12 years old) and their fathers and mothers. Data were collected in public schools in the Community of Madrid. Following the collection of data from children their families were interviewed about the smoking patterns of both fathers and mothers during pregnancy. At the beginning of the pregnancy 16.7% of smoking mothers stopped smoking. Women who maintained smoking during pregnancy significantly decreased the number of cigarettes/day (14.23 cigarettes/day before pregnancy and 7.07 cigarettes/day during pregnancy). However, the percentage of fathers who stopped smoking was very small (5.3%). Fathers’ smoking during pregnancy was associated with higher body mass index (p = 0.031), greater waist circumference (p = 0.012) and higher waist/ height index (0.001) in daughters but not necessarily in sons. Likewise the number of cigarettes consumed per day by the father during pregnancy affects the pulse wave velocity (PWV), an indicator of arterial wall stiffness (p = 0.028). Daughters of nonsmoking mothers during pregnancy but who were exposed during fetal life to paternal smoking, presented highest values of visceral obesity and arterial stiffness (PWV) in childhood. The results obtained in this study highlight the importance of fathers’ behavior on the health of children.

Keywords

father’s smoking, obesity, arterial stiffness, children

Цит.: Mora-Urda Ana Isabel, Montero Pilar RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN CHILDHOOD WITH FATHER’S SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 36-36