Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is associated with a breadth of adverse offspring outcomes, including pregnancy-related, neurodevelopmental, and behavioral problems. The current article discusses the issue if exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy increase the risk of severe mental illness in offspring. Several studies provide novel evidence of associations between SDP and offspring bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and related outcomes.
These associations raise the possibility that SDP exposure has causal teratogenic effects on the risk of severe mental illness (SMI). Because nicotine and carbon monoxide cross the placenta and may directly and indirectly (eg, via hypoxia) affect fetal neurodevelopment, this hypothesis is biologically plausible. Several recent editorials have made explicit causal claims regarding teratogenic effects of SDP on offspring neurodevelopment and…
