According to a study conducted by the University of Bergen, which included 24,000 children, suggests that both a father's early smoking debut and a father's longer smoking duration before conception increased non-allergic early-onset asthma in offspring. This means that not only the mother's environment plays a key role in child health, but also the father's lifestyle. This is equally true with mutual adjustment, and adjusting for the number of cigarettes smoked and years since quitting smoking.
"Offspring with a father who smoked only prior to conception had over three times more early-onset asthma than those whose father had never smoked," says Professor Cecilie Svanes at the Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen (UiB).
"The greatest increased risk for their children having asthma was found for fathers having their smoking debut before age 15. Interestingly, time of quitting before conception was not independently associated with offspring asthma," Svanes says.
Concerning mother's smoking, the research found more offspring asthma if the mother smoked around pregnancy, consistent with previous studies. However, no effect of maternal smoking only prior to conception was identified. The difference from father's smoking suggests effects through male sperm cells.
"Smoking is known to cause genetic and epigenetic damage to spermatozoa, which are transmissible to offspring and have the potential to induce developmental abnormalities," explains Svanes.
"There is growing evidence from animal studies for so called epigenetic programming, a mechanism whereby the father's environment before conception could impact on the health of future generations," Svanes says.
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