A potential limitation of this investigation is the reliance on retrospectively determined maternal drug use patterns. Although it is generally recognized that retrospective maternal drug use information is inferior to that which has been prospectively obtained (Huizink & Mulder, 2006), empirical examination of this issue with smokers does not lead to simplistic conclusions. The veracity of recall www.selleckchem.com/products/Cisplatin.html was repeatedly determined over a twenty-year period and found to be accurate for smoking (+ versus ?) for the vast majority (94%) of women but correct classification of the number of packs smoked per day was lower (80%; Krall, Valadian, Dwyer, & Gardner, 1989).

Furthermore, (Pickett, Kasza, Biesecker, Wright, & Wakschlag 2009) repeatedly evaluated urine cotinine during pregnancy and determined the correspondence with self-reported smoking measured during the second trimester as well as with smoking habits during pregnancy which were obtained over a decade later when the offspring were between the ages of 11 and 18. Among women whose urine tested positive for cotinine, the preponderance was classified correctly as smokers by both prospective (98.1%) and retrospective (95.6%) methods. Additionally, among women who prospectively denied smoking, approximately one quarter (22.7%) retrospectively reported nicotine use during pregnancy. (Pickett et al., 2009) concluded that retrospective measures may even be more informative than prospective ones for determining some smoking behaviors (e.g., packs per day during the first trimester).

Additional prospective studies could incorporate a quantitative biomarker of smoking (Florescu et al., 2009) in conjunction with paternal, teacher, or self-ratings to further evaluate the generalizability, persistence, and potential strategies for remediation of the observed abnormalities in executive function and scholastic performance. In conclusion, there is evidence possibly indicative of both a causal (Figure 1 and academic data of Table 1) and correlative (clinically significant problems in Table 2) relationship between in utero nicotine Brefeldin_A and subtle neurocognitive deficits. We suspect that future investigations will clarify that the type and strength of relationship depends not only on the domain measured but also upon on the extent and trimesters of maternal nicotine use, individual genetic differences (maternal and fetal), the ages participants are assessed, and the degree that confounds are present in different populations (Knopik, 2009). Ideally, an increased awareness of the reproductive and neurodevelopmental risks of nicotine will encourage more women to quit smoking prior to pregnancy. Supplementary Material Supplementary Figure 1 can be found online at http://www.ntr.oxfordjournals.