Study examines connection between retinoblastoma and maternal smoking

Smoking during pregnancy may be linked to retinoblastoma. (Image credit: Adobe Stock/NDABCreativity)

Maternal smoking during pregnancy may be a risk factor for retinoblastoma, particularly among unilateral cases, according to research by Di He, PhD.¹

He is from Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles.

The authors took another look at maternal smoking and retinoblastoma because the methodologies of previous such studies relied on a history of maternal smoking as reported by the study participants, which resulted in inconclusive results.

In the study, the investigators used the presence of biomarkers of tobacco smoke in neonatal dried blood spots to determine an association between smoking and retinoblastoma development.

The study included randomly selected cases of retinoblastoma (n = 498) and controls (n = 895) born between 1983 and 2011 from a population-based case–control study in California.

The researchers reported that maternal pregnancy-related smoking was measured using key metrics: provider or self-reported smoking during pregnancy and cotinine and hydroxycotinine in neonatal blood.

Based on the 3 metrics, “maternal smoking late in pregnancy or early postpartum was related to development of retinoblastoma (all types, odds ratio, 1.44, 95% confidence interval, 1.00–2.09),” the researchers noted.

When they relied on cotinine or hydroxycotinine to ascertain smoking, maternal smoking was related to unilateral retinoblastoma (odds ratio, 1.66, 95% confidence interval, 1.08–2.57).

The researchers concluded that maternal smoking may be a risk factor for development of retinoblastoma, especially in unilateral cases.

Reference

1. He D, Huang X, Uppal K, et al. Biomarkers of maternal smoking and the risk of retinoblastoma in offspring.Retina. 2023;42:481-9; DOI: 10.1097/IAE.0000000000003678