Little is known about genetic susceptibility to cigarette smoke in relation to adverse
pregnancy outcomes.
To investigate whether the association between maternal cigarette smoking and infant
birth weight differs by polymorphisms of 2 maternal metabolic genes: CYP1A1 and GSTT1.
Case-control study conducted in 1998-2000 among 741 mothers (174 ever smokers and
567 never smokers) who delivered singleton live births at Boston Medical Center. A
total of 207 cases were preterm or low-birth-weight infants and 534 were non-low-birth-weight,
full-term infants (control).
Birth weight, gestation, fetal growth by smoking status and CYP1A1 MspI (AA vs Aa
and aa, where Aa and aa were combined because of small numbers of aa and similar results),
and GSTT1 (present vs absent) genotypes.
Without consideration of genotype, continuous maternal smoking during pregnancy was
associated with a mean reduction of 377 g (SE, 89 g) in birth weight (odds ratio [OR],
2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-3.7). When CYP1A1 genotype was considered,
the estimated reduction in birth weight was 252 g (SE, 111 g) for the AA genotype
group (n = 75; OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.6-2.6), but was 520 g (SE, 124 g) for the Aa/aa
genotype group (n = 43 for Aa, n = 6 for aa; OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.6-6.4). When GSTT1
genotype was considered, the estimated reduction in birth weight was 285 g (SE, 99
g) (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 0.9-3.2) and 642 g (SE, 154 g) (OR, 3.5; 95% CI, 1.5-8.3) for
the present and absent genotype groups, respectively. When both CYP1A1 and GSTT1 genotypes
were considered, the greatest reduction in birth weight was found among smoking mothers
with the CYP1A1 Aa/aa and GSTT1 absent genotypes (-1285 g; SE, 234 g; P<.001). Among
never smokers, genotype did not independently confer an adverse effect. A similar
pattern emerged in analyses stratified by maternal ethnicity and in analyses for gestation.
In our study, maternal CYP1A1 and GSTT1 genotypes modified the association between
maternal cigarette smoking and infant birth weight, suggesting an interaction between
metabolic genes and cigarette smoking.