| Title: | Maternal smoking, lactation, and risk of incident irritable bowel syndrome in offspring: a large-scale prospective cohort study |
| Journal: | American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
| Published: | 14 Jan 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41544712/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2026.101200 |
Publication 18520
WARNING: the interactive features of this website use CSS3, which your browser does not support. To use the full features of this website, please update your browser.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder; however, evidence regarding its association with early-life factors is lacking.</p>
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the association between early-life factors, including maternal smoking and lactation, and risk of incident IBS in offspring within a large prospective cohort.</p>
METHODS: Participants free of IBS at baseline and with available data on maternal smoking and lactation were included. Maternal smoking was defined as regular cigarette smoking during the perinatal period, and lactation was defined as any breastfeeding during the infant period. Participants exposed to maternal smoking or to lactation during infancy were defined as exposure groups. The primary outcome was incident IBS. Cox proportional hazards model was conducted to estimate the associated risk.</p>
RESULTS: Among 290,962 participants, 81,186 (27.90%) participants were exposed to maternal smoking and 211,954 (72.85%) were exposed to lactation as infants. Over a median of 14.6 y of follow-up, 6222 incident IBS cases were identified. After multivariable adjustment, participants with maternal smoking had a 16.0% higher risk of incident IBS compared with those without maternal smoking [hazard ratio (HR): 1.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.22], whereas those exposed to lactation had a 9% lower risk of IBS than those not exposed to lactation (HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.97). Notably, participants exposed to both maternal smoking and no lactation exhibited an even higher risk of developing IBS compared with those with lactation exposure but without maternal smoking (HR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.34). Additionally, an evidently higher IBS risk was observed in those with both maternal smoking and individual previous/current smoking (HR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.21, 1.41).</p>
CONCLUSIONS: Maternal smoking is associated with a higher risk of incident IBS, whereas exposure to lactation is associated with a lower risk. These findings underscore the potential impact of early-life exposures on gastrointestinal health.</p>
15 Keywords
- Adult
- Breast Feeding
- Female
- Humans
- Incidence
- Infant
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Lactation
- Male
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
- Proportional Hazards Models
- Prospective Studies
- Risk Factors
- Smoking
6 Authors
- Yuge Li
- Si Liu
- Qian Zhang
- Shutian Zhang
- Shengtao Zhu
- Shanshan Wu
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 74444 | Common risk factors and prognosis of inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health