Prenatal tobacco exposure and adult offspring brain health: the mediating role of leukocyte telomere length in a large population-based cohort
Zirui Wang, Xingyu Zhang, Xianglu Meng, Jiamei Xie, Qiang Xu, Jiayuan Xu, Junping Wang · 2026
Read Prenatal tobacco exposure and adult offspring brain health: the mediating role of leukocyte telomere length in a large population-based cohort by Zirui Wang, Xingyu Zhang, Xianglu Meng, Jiamei Xie, Qiang Xu, Jiayuan Xu, Junping Wang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13527096.txt.
Description
Zirui Wang and colleagues use a 2026 UK Biobank cohort analysis to ask whether shortened telomeres help explain how a mother's smoking in pregnancy affects her adult children's brains. Telomeres, protective chromosome caps measured in white blood cells, mark biological aging and are shorter in exposed offspring. Brain scans, cognition, and mental health were all examined.
Nearly one hundred thousand offspring contributed data across hundreds of imaging measures, eleven cognitive tests, and four mental health outcomes. Exposed offspring showed shorter telomeres, shrinkage in thirty imaging measures, weaker scores on three cognitive tests, and higher symptom scores on all four mental health scales. Mediation analysis tied telomere shortening to part of the effect on eleven imaging measures, especially hippocampal shrinkage, plus reduced fluid intelligence and more depressive symptoms.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Zirui Wang, Xingyu Zhang, Xianglu Meng, Jiamei Xie, Qiang Xu, Jiayuan Xu, Junping Wang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45146 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |