A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Childhood Exposure to Parental Smoking and Midlife Cognitive Function: The Young Finns Study
Authors: Suvi P Rovio, Jukka Pihlman, Katja Pahkala, Markus Juonala, Costan G Magnussen, Niina Pitkänen, Ari Ahola-Olli, Pia Salo, Mika Kähönen, Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Terho Lehtimäki, Eero Jokinen, Tomi Laitinen, Leena Taittonen, Päivi Tossavainen, Jorma S A Viikari, Olli T Raitakari
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
Publication year: 2020
Journal: American Journal of Epidemiology
Journal name in source: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Journal acronym: AM J EPIDEMIOL
Volume: 189
Issue: 11
First page : 1280
Last page: 1291
Number of pages: 12
ISSN: 0002-9262
eISSN: 1476-6256
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa052
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/10138/335936/1/1Childhood_Exposure_to_Parental_Smoking_and_Midlife_Cognitive_Function_The_Young_Finns_Study.pdf
We studied whether exposure to parental smoking in childhood/adolescence is associated with midlife cognitive function, leveraging data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. A population-based cohort of 3,596 children/adolescents aged 3-18 years was followed between 1980 and 2011. In 2011, cognitive testing was performed on 2,026 participants aged 34-49 years using computerized testing. Measures of secondhand smoke exposure in childhood/adolescence consisted of parental self-reports of smoking and participants' serum cotinine levels. Participants were classified into 3 exposure groups: 1) no exposure (nonsmoking parents, cotinine <1.0 ng/mL); 2) hygienic parental smoking (1-2 smoking parents, cotinine <1.0 ng/mL); and 3) nonhygienic parental smoking (1-2 smoking parents, cotinine >1.0 ng/mL). Analyses adjusted for sex, age, family socioeconomic status, polygenic risk score for cognitive function, adolescent/adult smoking, blood pressure, and serum total cholesterol level. Compared with the nonexposed, participants exposed to nonhygienic parental smoking were at higher risk of poor (lowest quartile) midlife episodic memory and associative learning (relative risk (RR) = 1.38, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08, 1.75), and a weak association was found for short-term and spatial working memory (RR = 1.25, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.58). Associations for those exposed to hygienic parental smoking were nonsignificant (episodic memory and associative learning: RR = 1.19, 95% CI: 0.92, 1.54; short-term and spatial working memory: RR = 1.10, 95% CI: 0.85, 1.34). We conclude that avoiding childhood/adolescence secondhand smoke exposure promotes adulthood cognitive function.
