Physiological reactivity during object manipulation among cigarette-exposed infants at 9 months of age

•Examined the association between prenatal tobacco exposure and heart rate during an object manipulation task in infants.•Results indicated that the heart rates of exposed infants significantly increased during the object manipulation task.

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes and heart rate during an object manipulation task at 9 months of age. Second-by-second heart rate was recorded for 181 infants who were prenatally exposed to cigarettes and 77 nonexposed infants during the manipulation of four standardized toys. A series of longitudinal multilevel models were run to examine the association of prenatal smoking on the intercept and slope of heart rate during four 90-second object manipulation tasks. After controlling for maternal age, prenatal marijuana and alcohol use, duration of focused attention and activity level, results indicated that the heart rates of exposed infants significantly increased during the object manipulation task. These findings suggest casual rather than focused attention and a possible increase in physiological arousal during object manipulation.