Regions of interest assessment of prenatal exposure to tobacco on adolescent cortical thickness and sulcal depth

Maternal tobacco use during pregnancy (MTDP) remains a global and domestic public health issue. This study seeks to investigate the long-term impact of MTDP on brain morphology during late childhood and early adolescence using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset. Children aged 9–10 were enrolled using the ABCD school selection probability sample method for national representation. Participants and their parents or guardians underwent interviews and surveys, and children underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at baseline and 2-year follow-up. Morphometric brain measures of cortical thickness and sulcal depth across 34 regions of interest on T1-weighted MRI images were analyzed. Of 11,448 at baseline, 1607 children fell into the MTDP group. Intracranial volume (p < 0.001), total cortical surface area, and volume (p < 0.0001) were significantly lower among MTDP children (vs. control) at both waves 1 and 2. A sustained difference was found in mean cortical thickness at the parahippocampal gyrus as well as sulcal depth at the isthmus cingulate, parahippocampal, lateral occipital, and lingual gyri. Several regions of interest demonstrated differences in the cortical thickness and sulcal depth at single time points. An association between MTDP and long-term outcomes of regional morphometric differences in cortical thickness and sulcal depth on MRI was found at both baseline among 9–10 years old and at 2-year follow-ups. Taken together with NIH cognitive testing from the same population comparison, the results suggest longstanding cognitive deficits corresponding to specific brain regions.