Click here to stream the public defence
Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Eliot Spindel, Oregon Health & Science University, USA
- Second opponent: Professor Cecilie Svanes, University of Bergen, Norway
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Associate Professor Lars Fjellbirkeland, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor II Espen Andre Haavardsholm, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Professor Emeritus Karin Cecilie Lødrup Carlsen, University of Oslo
Summary
Increased use of smokeless nicotine-containing tobacco products, such as snus, in young female populations over the last decades is coupled with limited knowledge on the extent of use in pregnancy and potential harmful effects on the infant.
This study aimed to explore the effects of early life exposure to snus on infant lung function measured with tidal flow-volume (TFV) loops at three months of age, by first standardizing infant tidal lung function measurements and determining the prevalence of snus use in pregnancy.
The thesis used data from the PreventADALL study, a randomized controlled birth-cohort study enrolling 2397 mother-child pairs antenatally in Norway and Sweden from 2014 to 2016. Among 2528 pregnant women, snus use was most common, reported by 6.5% of the 11.3% of women who reported use of any nicotine-containing product during pregnancy. Most women ceased nicotine use by pregnancy week six. We established and validated a standardized procedure for evaluation of TFV loops at three months of age. In a subgroup of 91 infants we found that mean time to peak tidal expiratory flow divided by expiratory time, a commonly used parameter to evaluate lung function in tidal breathing, was significantly higher in awake compared to sleeping infants. Analyses in 1163 infants indicated an increased odds ratio for reduced lung function among infants exposed to any nicotine-containing products in utero, in which 2/3 of this exposure came from snus use exclusively. When analyzing for only snus use or adjusting for maternal age, education and asthma, the estimates were similar though not significant. Maternal snus use may negatively affect infant lung function, supporting a precautionary approach to advice against any use of nicotine-containing products in pregnancy.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.