How a Father’s Childhood Smoke Exposure Shapes His Child’s Lungs
New research suggests that a father’s exposure to secondhand smoke before puberty can have intergenerational consequences, impairing lung function trajectories in his children from childhood into middle age. The study, analyzing nearly 900 father-offspring pairs, found a link between paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure and poorer respiratory health in the next generation. This adds a novel, paternal dimension to the understanding of how environmental insults can affect developmental trajectories across generations, moving beyond the direct effects of maternal exposure during pregnancy.
Why it might matter to you:
This work expands the concept of neurodevelopmental risk factors to include paternal environmental history, which could influence brain development through epigenetic or other mechanisms. For a researcher in neurodevelopmental disorders, it underscores the importance of considering paternal life-course exposures when investigating the complex etiology of these conditions. It suggests that family health histories used in research may need to be more detailed to capture these transgenerational effects.
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