BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been associated with increased risk of childhood overweight/ @entity28 defined by body mass index (BMI). We examined its association with a range of @entity1386 measures and cardiovascular indicators in @entity1 aged 3-10 years. METHODS: We used data from a cross-sectional study of schoolchildren across mainland Portuguese districts (2009-2010). We applied quantile regressions to examine maternal smoking associations with @entity1386 (n   =   17   286), blood pressure (BP) and resting pulse rate (RPR) (n         2500) measures across the age range, adjusting for prenatal and early life factors. RESULTS: Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with increases in offspring @entity1386 levels. The difference in median BMI between @entity1 of smokers and non-smokers was 0.39   kg   m(-2) (95% confidence interval: 0.25, 0.53) in @entity1 and 0.46   kg   m(-2) (0.31, 0.62) in @entity1 ; 0.55   cm (0.24, 0.87) and 0.82   cm (0.45, 1.19), respectively, in median waist circumference; and 0.94   mm (0.49, 1.40) and 1.47   mm (0.87, 2.07) in median sum of (triceps, subscapular, suprailiac) skin-folds. The associations appeared to be stronger with increasing age. The differences in the 90th centile tended to be greater than those in median. There was no consistent association of maternal smoking with BP and RPR. CONCLUSIONS: @entity1 whose mother smoked during pregnancy had higher @entity1386 levels than @entity1 of non-smokers, across several measures, particularly among older @entity1 . Although there was no consistent association with cardiovascular indicators, maternal smoking association with childhood @entity28 may have implications for cardiovascular risk factors over the life course.

Maternal smoking in pregnancy association with childhood XXXX and blood pressure.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['children', 'Children', 'girls', 'boys'] @entity1386 :: ('MESH:D018205', 'Disease') :: ['adiposity'] @entity28 :: ('MESH:D009765', 'Disease') :: ['obesity']
@entity1386 :: (MESH:D018205,Disease) :: ['adiposity']
