Cited by 181Prenatal Substance Exposure EffectsSmoking Behavior and CessationNicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 329 of the 332 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 2 of the 284 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Developmental toxicity of nicotine: A transdisciplinary synthesis and implications for emerging tobacco products

Open access

Abstract

HIGHLIGHTSElectronic cigarettes are often promoted as a safer alternative to combusted cigarettes.Human and animal research supports that nicotine contributes to the adverse effects of gestational tobacco exposure on fetal development.Nicotine exposure during adolescence is associated with cognitive deficits.Measures to protect pregnant women and adolescents from nicotine exposure are warranted. ABSTRACT While the health risks associated with adult cigarette smoking have been well described, effects of nicotine exposure during periods of developmental vulnerability are often overlooked. Using MEDLINE and PubMed literature searches, books, reports and expert opinion, a transdisciplinary group of scientists reviewed human and animal research on the health effects of exposure to nicotine during pregnancy and adolescence. A synthesis of this research supports that nicotine contributes critically to adverse effects of gestational tobacco exposure, including reduced pulmonary function, auditory processing defects, impaired infant cardiorespiratory function, and may contribute to cognitive and behavioral deficits in later life. Nicotine exposure during adolescence is associated with deficits in working memory, attention, and auditory processing, as well as increased impulsivity and anxiety. Finally, recent animal studies suggest that nicotine has a priming effect that increases addiction liability for other drugs. The evidence that nicotine adversely affects fetal and adolescent development is sufficient to warrant public health measures to protect pregnant women, children, and adolescents from nicotine exposure.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This transdisciplinary expert review synthesizes human and animal evidence that nicotine exposure during pregnancy and adolescence adversely affects development, including pulmonary, cardiorespiratory, auditory, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. It concludes the evidence is sufficient to warrant public health measures protecting pregnant women, children, and adolescents from nicotine exposure, including from emerging tobacco products.

Key findings

  • Prenatal nicotine contributes critically to adverse effects of gestational tobacco exposure, including reduced pulmonary function, auditory processing defects, impaired infant cardiorespiratory function, and possible later cognitive/behavioral deficits. Maternal smoking increases perinatal mortality by 20–30% and SIDS risk 2.4- to 3-fold; maternal smokeless tobacco use is associated with a 1.6- to 2.6-fold increase in stillbirth. In animal models, nicotine is estimated to account for as much as 36%–46% of the overall impact of tobacco smoke on brain circuitry development.
  • Adolescent nicotine exposure is associated with deficits in working memory, attention, and auditory processing, as well as increased impulsivity and anxiety. Adolescents are more vulnerable to addiction, experience dependence at lower nicotine exposure levels than adults, and animal studies suggest nicotine has a priming effect that increases addiction liability for other drugs.
  • Prenatal nicotine alone, at levels similar to smokers, causes decreased forced expiratory flow in monkeys and mice; the effect appears mediated by the α7 nAChR because it was lost in α7 nAChR knockout mice. Prenatal nicotine exposure also causes increased collagen, decreased elastin, airway/pulmonary vessel wall thickening, and DNA methylation changes in animal models, with similar findings reported in human offspring of smokers.
  • Electronic cigarettes have not been directly assessed for developmental outcomes in pregnant women or adolescents, and there are no published animal developmental studies using nicotine exposure from electronic cigarettes. However, some electronic cigarette products may deliver as much nicotine as conventional cigarettes.

Methods

  • In May 2015, scientists from varied disciplines were convened by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the scientific literature on health effects of nicotine exposure during developmental vulnerability.
  • The expert review used MEDLINE and PubMed literature searches, books, reports, and expert opinion to summarize and synthesize epidemiological, clinical, and preclinical research on tobacco and nicotine exposure during pregnancy and adolescence.
  • Because electronic cigarettes were introduced recently and developmental outcomes have not been directly assessed, the authors drew on studies of other tobacco forms in humans and conventional nicotine exposure in animals, focusing on the central nervous and pulmonary systems.

Limitations

  • Stated in the paper: electronic cigarette effects on pregnant women and adolescents have not been directly assessed; there are no published animal developmental studies using nicotine exposure from electronic cigarettes; human smokers are exposed to hundreds of other combustion toxicants; observational studies of smokers face residual confounding from socioeconomic, environmental, genetic, and other factors; randomized trials of nicotine exposure in humans would be unethical.
  • Stated in the paper: important research gaps remain, including how timing of nicotine exposure during pregnancy affects fetal development and the relative contributions of nicotine versus combustion products to adolescent brain and cognitive outcomes.
  • Evident from the text: the review is a narrative expert synthesis rather than a formal systematic review or meta-analysis; many human adolescent cognitive studies are cross-sectional, making causality difficult to determine; some animal findings on reflex development and activity levels are inconsistent.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.013

Cites

329 of 329 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

113 Not checked yet · 24 Own interpretation · 18 No basis given · 3 Sources not found · 1 Supported · 1 Own method

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Show all 123 claims

  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 34
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 2
37 of 37
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Developmental effects of nicotine delivered by electronic cigarettes are similar to those of conventional nicotine or tobacco.

    “Electronic cigarettes were introduced to markets relatively recently, and their effects on health outcomes in pregnant women and adolescents have not been directly assessed.”
    “Therefore, the authors draw on studies of other forms of tobacco exposure (cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) in humans and conventional nicotine exposure in animals.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Many clinicians and scientists have historically viewed nicotine alone as low risk, particularly for established smokers.

    “Historically, many clinicians and scientists have considered exposure to nicotine alone to be low risk, especially for established smokers.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    It would be unethical to run randomized human trials that could establish nicotine's developmental effects.

    “Randomized trials of nicotine exposure in humans that could determine effects of nicotine on development are unethical, so researchers rely on observational studies of human smokers.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Smokers inhale many other toxic combustion products besides nicotine, including carbon monoxide, acetaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

    “Human smokers, however, are exposed not only to nicotine, but to hundreds of other toxic components generated by combustion, such as carbon monoxide, acetaldehyde, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Product safety regulation commonly relies on animal data.

    “and regulatory decisions on product safety are routinely made using animal data.”
5 of 5

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Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Food and Drug Administration, 2016, Fed. Regist., 81, 28973
  2. Volkow, 2006, Altered pathways: drug abuse and age of onset, Addict. Prof., 2, 6
  3. Weitzman, 2013, Maternal prenatal smoking and hearing loss among adolescents, JAMA Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 139, 669

Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
England, L. J., Aagaard, K., Bloch, M., Conway, K., Cosgrove, K., Grana, R., Gould, T. J., Hatsukami, D., Jensen, F., Kandel, D., Lanphear, B., Leslie, F., Pauly, J. R., Neiderhiser, J., Rubinstein, M., Slotkin, T. A., Spindel, E., Stroud, L., & Wakschlag, L.
Affiliations
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
  • Baylor College of Medicine (US)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • University of Kentucky (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • Duke Medical Center (US)
  • Oregon National Primate Research Center (US)
  • Brown University (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
Corresponding author
England, Lucinda J.
Venue
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-01
Volume
72
Pages
176-189
ISSN
0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2553751430
Cited by
181
References
332
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 10
FWCI
2.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • UKnowledge (University of Kentucky) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (CC999999)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • National Cancer Institute
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study
Keywords
nicotine, developmental toxicity, adolescent nicotine exposure, fetal development, lung function, auditory processing, cardiopulmonary function, cognitive impairment, impulsivity, anxiety, public health policy
MeSH terms
Animals, Female, Fetus, Humans, Nicotine, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Smoking, Tobacco Products, Nicotiana

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