McEvoy/Spindel: Prenatal Vitamin C and In-Utero Smoke: A Novel Approach to Block Some of the Perinatal Origins of Life Long Lung Disease

ECHO Discovery Summary

On February 9, Cindy T. McEvoy, MD, MCR and Eliot Spindel, MD, PhD of the Oregon Health & Science University presented on treating women who smoke during pregnancy with vitamin C to improve infant health outcomes.

In the U.S., roughly 10-12% of women smoke during pregnancy, which can increase their child’s risk for reduced lung function and other negative health outcomes into adulthood. Studies using animal models revealed that exposure to nicotine is likely the primary driver of these negative health outcomes in offspring. The results of these studies also suggest that women who use e-cigarettes during pregnancy as an alternative to traditional smoking may still be putting their child at risk for negative health outcomes.

A randomized study of women who smoked during pregnancy, led by Dr. McEvoy, found that daily treatment with 500 mg of vitamin C was associated with improved infant lung function and decreased wheezing that continued into early childhood. Additional epigenetic studies revealed that many of the negative effects of prenatal smoking on infant health may be associated with epigenetic changes in-utero that may be reversed by treatment with vitamin C.

The results of these studies suggest that vitamin C could be an effective and inexpensive treatment for pregnant smokers that might improve infant health outcomes.

Speakers:

Cindy T. McEvoy, MD, MCR

Oregon Health & Science University

Speaker Bio: Dr. McEvoy is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and Credit Unions for Kids Endowed Professor in Pediatric Research. She completed her school of medicine training at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, did her pediatric residency at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Los Angeles and her Neonatology Fellowship at Los Angeles (LA) County Hospital. She is a neonatologist and physician scientist whose research interest is on the primary prevention of childhood respiratory disease through in-utero and early life interventions with a focus on the use of pulmonary function testing to quantify outcomes.

Eliot Spindel, MD, PhD

Oregon Health & Science University

Speaker Bio: Dr. Spindel received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his PhD in Neuroscience from MIT.  He is currently a Professor of Neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University.  His primary research focus is on the effects of in utero nicotine exposure on lung development and offspring respiratory health with a focus on potential epigenetic mechanisms underlying the lifelong and multigenerational effects of nicotine exposures.  He is an MPI with the McEvoy cohorts which are studying if supplemental vitamin C given to pregnant smokers who would not quit will prevent some of the lifelong effects of in utero tobacco exposures on their offspring’s’ respiratory health.

Date: Wednesday, February 9th, 1 to 2pm ET