ArticleNeuroepidemiology2026
Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy, Smoking Initiation, and the Risk of Epilepsy in the UK Biobank.
Article in Neuroepidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
<p>Introduction: The impact of early-life tobacco smoke exposure on epilepsy remains underexplored. Our study examined the associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP), age of smoking initiation (ASI), and epilepsy risk, while investigating the mediating role of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
methodsWe analyzed data from 427,285 participants for MSDP and 428,178 for ASI from the UK Biobank. Accelerated failure time (AFT) models and Cox proportional hazard models with time-dependent covariates were applied to evaluate the associations between MSDP and ASI and epilepsy onset. Mediation analyses were conducted to assess the role of IGF-1.
resultsOur study involved 427,258 participants in survival analyses for MSDP and 428,178 for ASI. Participants exposed to MSDP had an 8% shorter epilepsy-free time (time ratio: 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87-0.98, p < 0.01) and significantly higher epilepsy risk (hazard ratio: 9.25, 95% CI: 1.91-44.83, p < 0.01). Compared with never-smokers, childhood, adolescent, and adult smoking initiation shortened epilepsy-free time by 27%, 18%, and 13%, respectively, according to AFT models (p < 0.001). Cox models indicated a 62%, 33%, and 22% higher risk of epilepsy for smoking initiation during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (p < 0.001). IGF-1 mediated 9% (95% CI: 5%-39%) of the effect for MSDP and 5% (95% CI: 3%-11%) for ASI.
conclusionSmoking exposure in the early-life stages, encompassing both prenatal and postnatal periods, accelerates the onset and increases the risk of epilepsy, with IGF-1 serving as a potential mediator. Further research is needed to elucidate these mechanisms. </p>.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.