Impact of prenatal exposure to delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on birth size and postnatal growth trajectories.

Background: Prenatal exposure to cannabis (or more specifically, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol [Δ9-THC]) has been consistently linked to low birthweight. Animal models further show that Δ9-THC is associated with rapid postnatal growth. Whether this association is modified by breastfeeding is unknown.

Bridging Differences in Cohort Analyses of the Relationship between Secondhand Smoke Exposure during Pregnancy and Birth Weight: The Transportability Framework in the ECHO Program.

Background: Estimates for the effects of environmental exposures on health outcomes, including secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, often present considerable variability across studies. Knowledge of the reasons behind these differences can aid our understanding of effects in specific populations as well as inform practices of combining data from multiple studies.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the presence of effect modification by measured sociodemographic characteristics on the effect of SHS exposure during pregnancy on birth weights that may drive differences observed across cohorts.

Prenatal Exposure to Cannabis: Effects on Childhood Obesity and Cardiometabolic Health.

Purpose Of Review: To consolidate information on the obesogenic and cardiometabolic effects of prenatal exposure to cannabis.

Recent Findings: A PubMed search strategy updated from January 1, 2014, through 14 June 2023, produced a total of 47 epidemiologic studies and 12 animal studies. Prenatal exposure to cannabis is consistently associated with small for gestational age and low birth weight.

Prenatal Exposure to Tobacco and Childhood Cognition and Behavior: Effect Modification by Maternal Folate Intake and Breastfeeding Duration.

In this exploratory analysis, we assessed whether nutrition modified the association between prenatal exposure to tobacco and childhood cognition/behavior among 366 Colorado-based mothers and their offspring (born ≥ 37 weeks with birthweights ≥ 2500 g). Interaction by folate ( View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Associations between Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Cannabis with Cognition and Behavior at Age 5 Years: The Healthy Start Study.

Background: Prenatal exposure to cannabis may influence childhood cognition and behavior, but the epidemiologic evidence is mixed. Even less is known about the potential impact of secondhand exposure to cannabis during early childhood.

Objective: This study sought to assess whether prenatal and/or postnatal exposure to cannabis was associated with childhood cognition and behavior.

Maternal Diet Quality During Pregnancy and Offspring Hepatic Fat in Early Childhood: The Healthy Start Study.

Background: Overnutrition in utero may increase offspring risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the specific contribution of maternal diet quality during pregnancy to this association remains understudied in humans.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations of maternal diet quality during pregnancy with offspring hepatic fat in early childhood (median: 5 y old, range: 4-8 y old).

Methods: Data were from 278 mother-child pairs in the longitudinal, Colorado-based Healthy Start Study.

Neighborhood Walkability, Historical Redlining, and Childhood Obesity in Denver, Colorado.

Childhood obesity is a precursor to future health complications. In adults, neighborhood walkability is inversely associated with obesity prevalence. Recently, it has been shown that current urban walkability has been influenced by historical discriminatory neighborhood disinvestment.

Using non-parametric Bayes shrinkage to assess relationships between multiple environmental and social stressors and neonatal size and body composition in the Healthy Start cohort.

Background: Both environmental and social factors have been linked to birth weight and adiposity at birth, but few studies consider the effects of exposure mixtures. Our objective was to identify which components of a mixture of neighborhood-level environmental and social exposures were driving associations with birth weight and adiposity at birth in the Healthy Start cohort.

Methods: Exposures were assessed at the census tract level and included air pollution, built environment characteristics, and socioeconomic status.

Early-life exposure to tobacco and childhood adiposity: Identifying windows of susceptibility.

Background: Early-life exposure to tobacco is associated with obesity, but the most susceptible developmental periods are unknown.

Objective: To explore windows of susceptibility in a cohort of 568 mother-child pairs.

Methods: We measured seven measures of tobacco exposure (five self-reported and two biomarkers) spanning from pre-conception to age 5 years.

Prenatal exposure to tobacco and adverse birth outcomes: effect modification by folate intake during pregnancy.

Background: Fetal exposure to tobacco increases the risk for many adverse birth outcomes, but whether diet mitigates these risks has yet to be explored. Here, we examined whether maternal folate intake (from foods and supplements) during pregnancy modified the association between prenatal exposure to tobacco and with preterm delivery, small-for-gestational age (SGA) births, or neonatal adiposity.

Methods: Mother-child pairs (n = 701) from Healthy Start were included in this analysis.

Fetal Exposure to Cannabis and Childhood Metabolic Outcomes: The Healthy Start Study.

Objective: To assess the impact of fetal exposure to cannabis on adiposity and glucose-insulin traits in early life.

Research Design And Methods: We leveraged a subsample of 103 mother-child pairs from Healthy Start, an ethnically diverse Colorado-based cohort. Twelve cannabinoids/metabolites of cannabis (including Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol) were measured in maternal urine collected at ~27 weeks' gestation.

Joint effects of ambient air pollution and maternal smoking on neonatal adiposity and childhood BMI trajectories in the Healthy Start study.

Unlabelled: Coexposure to air pollution and tobacco smoke may influence early-life growth, but few studies have investigated their joint effects. We examined the interaction between fetal exposure to maternal smoking and ozone (O) or fine particulate matter (PM) on birth weight, neonatal adiposity, and body mass index (BMI) trajectories through age 3 years.

Methods: Participants were 526 mother-child pairs, born ≥37 weeks.

Examining Associations Between Dietary Inflammatory Index in Pregnancy, Pro-inflammatory Cytokine and Chemokine Levels at Birth, and Offspring Asthma and/or Wheeze by Age 4 Years.

Background: Few studies have demonstrated associations between maternal dietary inflammatory index (DII) during pregnancy and offspring asthma and/or wheeze.

Objective: The study aimed to assess associations between maternal DII during pregnancy and 1) offspring cord sera pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α) and chemokines (IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) at birth and 2) offspring asthma and/or wheeze at age 4 years.

Design: The Healthy Start study is a prospective prebirth longitudinal study that recruited pregnant women in Denver, Colorado and tracked their offspring.

Neonatal Adiposity and Childhood Obesity.

Objectives: To explore the longitudinal association of neonatal adiposity (fat mass percentage) with BMI trajectories and childhood overweight and obesity from ages 2 to 6 years.

Methods: We studied 979 children from the Healthy Start cohort. Air displacement plethysmography was used to estimate fat mass percentage.

In Utero Exposure to Maternal Overweight or Obesity is Associated with Altered Offspring Brain Function in Middle Childhood.

Objective: The impact of in utero exposure to maternal overweight and obesity on offspring metabolic health is well documented. Neurodevelopmental outcomes among these children are, however, less well studied. To address this gap, the current study investigated brain function among 4- to 6-year-old children exposed to maternal overweight or obesity during gestation compared with that of children born to mothers with healthy BMI in pregnancy.

Prenatal exposure to traffic and ambient air pollution and infant weight and adiposity: The Healthy Start study.

Background: Prenatal exposures to ambient air pollution and traffic have been associated with adverse birth outcomes, and may also lead to an increased risk of obesity. Obesity risk may be reflected in changes in body composition in infancy.

Objective: To estimate associations between prenatal ambient air pollution and traffic exposure, and infant weight and adiposity in a Colorado-based prospective cohort study.

Diet, Secondhand Smoke, and Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) Levels among Singapore Chinese Adults.

The combination of poor diet and exposure to secondhand smoke may increase hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, but few studies have explored this interaction. We explored an interaction among 574 never-smoking adults from the Singapore Chinese Health Study. At baseline (age 59 ± 8 years), intakes of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin C, vitamin E and fiber were estimated using a modified food frequency questionnaire.

Prenatal Exposure to Tobacco and Offspring Neurocognitive Development in the Healthy Start Study.

Objective: To explore the associations between prenatal exposure to tobacco and neurocognitive development, in the absence of prematurity or low birth weight.

Study Design: We followed mother-child pairs within Healthy Start through 6 years of age. Children were born at ≥37 weeks of gestation with a birth weight of ≥2500 g.

Persistent effects of in utero overnutrition on offspring adiposity: the Exploring Perinatal Outcomes among Children (EPOCH) study.

Aims/hypothesis: We previously showed that intrauterine exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases selected markers of adiposity in pre-pubertal adolescents. In the present study, we examined these associations in adolescence, and explored whether they are strengthened as the participants transition through puberty.

Methods: Data from 597 individuals (505 unexposed, 92 exposed) participating in the longitudinal Exploring Perinatal Outcomes among Children (EPOCH) study in Colorado were collected at two research visits when the participants were, on average, 10.

The Fort Collins commuter study: Variability in personal exposure to air pollutants by microenvironment.

This study investigated the role of microenvironment on personal exposures to black carbon (BC), fine particulate mass (PM ), carbon monoxide (CO), and particle number concentration (PNC) among adult residents of Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Forty-four participants carried a backpack containing personal monitoring instruments for eight nonconsecutive 24-hour periods. Exposures were apportioned into five microenvironments: Home, Work, Transit, Eateries, and Other.

Fetal exposure to maternal active and secondhand smoking with offspring early-life growth in the Healthy Start study.

Background: Previous studies have modeled the association between fetal exposure to tobacco smoke and body mass index (BMI) growth trajectories, but not the timing of catch-up growth. Research on fetal exposure to maternal secondhand smoking is limited.

Objectives: To explore the associations between fetal exposure to maternal active and secondhand smoking with body composition at birth and BMI growth trajectories through age 3 years.

Proinflammatory Diets during Pregnancy and Neonatal Adiposity in the Healthy Start Study.

Objective: To evaluate the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores during pregnancy and neonatal adiposity.

Study Design: The analysis included 1078 mother-neonate pairs in Healthy Start, a prospective prebirth cohort. Diet was assessed using repeated 24-hour dietary recalls.

Ozone-Related Respiratory Morbidity in a Low-Pollution Region.

Objective: We evaluated the effects of ozone on respiratory-related hospital admissions in three counties in Washington State from 1990 to 2006. We further examined vulnerability to ozone by key demographic factors.

Method: Using linked hospital admission and ambient monitoring data, we estimated the age-, sex-, and health insurance-stratified associations between ozone (0 to 3 days' lag) and respiratory-related hospital admissions in King, Spokane, and Clark County, Washington.