Tobacco and pregnancy: a risk found for premature babies
Posted on September 3, 2008
Filed Under Smoking |
Pregnant women who smoke would be at risk of sudden infant death syndrome to their child, if born prematurely. This is what Canadian scientists at the University of Calgary, in an article published on 1 September in the American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. Newborns in this situation would present more difficulties to breathe properly.The study is the first to compare respiratory reflexes of premature babies whose mothers had smoked in premature infants whose mothers had not smoked during pregnancy. It involved 22 newborns from 28 to 32 weeks. Twelve of them have mothers who smoked at least five cigarettes per day during their pregnancy. The researchers evaluated various factors such as speed breathing of the child, interruptions in breathing or his level of oxygen in the blood.
The results showed no difference in the two groups about the pauses in breathing or speed. In contrast, children whose mothers had smoked, showed an increase in heart rate during short periods of reduced oxygen. They also need more time to find a level of oxygen in the blood normal. Factors known to increase the risk of sudden death, although in each case, the reasons for death are difficult to define.
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