Table 3 Maternal smoking during pregnancy and child criminal/anti-social activity in adolescence and adulthood

Hay et al., (2010) [33]

To examine the links between exposure to maternal depression in pregnancy and antisocial outcomes in children.

Longitudinal study of 120 families in Britain.

Families were followed until the child was around 16 years.

Incidence of arrests and DSM diagnoses.

Antenatal exposure to cigarette smoking did not predict antisocial outcomes for children.

Adjusted for a wide range of covariates

Moderate

Macleod et al., (2008) [57]

To estimate the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco use among children

Birth cohort study in England (n = 6895, 3410 male)

Measured self-reported use of tobacco and alcohol at age 10.

After adjusting for potential covariates no significant association was found between maternal smoking and child tobacco and alcohol use.

Good range of covariates.

10 years old likely too young for outcome measure

Moderate

Murray et al., (2010) [34]

To identify early predictors of conduct problems and crime

Large UK cohort study (n = 16,401) followed up to age 34 years

Child conduct problems at age 10 measured using parent-rated Rutter A2 scale.

Convictions were self-reported at ages 30 and 34 years.

In fully adjusted models, maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with conduct problems at age 10 (partial OR = 1.8 [95% CI: 1.3-2.5] for girls; Partial OR = 1.7 [95% CI: 1.4-2.2] for boys) and convictions in adulthood (partial OR = 1.8 [95% CI: 1.2-2.7] for girls; partial OR = 1.4 [95% CI: 1.1-1.7] for boys).

Adjusted for a wide range of covariates

Strong