Parsaei Mohammadamin, Rashidian Pegah, Parsaei Ali, Terplan Mishka, Tarafdari Azadeh, Masrour Mahdi, Beikmarzehei Alireza, Hassani Parveneh, Motevaselian Mohsen, Sanjari Moghaddam Hossein
Breastfeeding Research Center, Family Health Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
Reproductive Health Research Center, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
Neuroradiology. 2025 Jul 19. doi: 10.1007/s00234-025-03696-w.
The increasing global prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy raises concerns about lasting effects on fetal neurological development. This review of brain magnetic resonance imaging studies aims to analyze existing literature on the influence of maternal prenatal tobacco exposure on the structure and function of the offspring's brain.
A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase for relevant articles published before May 24, 2025. The inclusion criteria consisted of peer-reviewed original articles comparing brain magnetic resonance imaging data of offspring born to mothers with and without prenatal tobacco exposure. A coordinate-based meta-analysis using the activation likelihood estimation was also performed.
Our search resulted in 471 records, with 56 articles undergoing full-text screening. Ultimately, 27 articles comparing the brain magnetic resonance imaging of 15,913 offspring, from fetus to adulthood stages, with and without prenatal tobacco exposure, were included. While the findings of the studies were heterogeneous, multiple regional and global structural (e.g., volume, cortical thickness, and surface area) and functional (task-based) alterations were identified, specifically within the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions. Also, altered white matter tract volume and diffusivity indices were repeatedly reported. Furthermore, our meta-analysis identified reduced neural activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus of tobacco-exposed offspring.
This review highlights a considerable association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and altered offspring brain development. Further studies are essential to discern precise causal effects on the offspring's brain, development, behavior, and function.
孕期母亲吸烟在全球的患病率不断上升，这引发了人们对其对胎儿神经发育的长期影响的担忧。这项关于脑磁共振成像研究的综述旨在分析现有文献中母亲产前接触烟草对后代大脑结构和功能的影响。
在PubMed、科学网和Embase中进行了系统检索，以查找2025年5月24日前发表的相关文章。纳入标准包括经过同行评审的原创文章，这些文章比较了母亲有或没有产前接触烟草的后代的脑磁共振成像数据。还使用激活可能性估计进行了基于坐标的荟萃分析。
我们的检索得到471条记录，其中56篇文章进行了全文筛选。最终，纳入了27篇文章，这些文章比较了15913名后代从胎儿期到成年期有或没有产前接触烟草的脑磁共振成像。虽然研究结果存在异质性，但确定了多个区域和整体结构（如体积、皮质厚度和表面积）以及功能（基于任务）的改变，特别是在额叶、颞叶和顶叶区域。此外，白质束体积和扩散指数的改变也被反复报道。此外，我们的荟萃分析发现，接触烟草的后代右额下回神经活动减少。
本综述强调了孕期母亲吸烟与后代大脑发育改变之间的显著关联。进一步的研究对于明确其对后代大脑、发育、行为和功能的确切因果效应至关重要。
