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Smoking During Pregnancy can at least be Linked to Premature Birth

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Many would argue that childbirth is a beautiful and miraculous event, however the process of the pregnancy is a very fragile time in the mother's life. During this time most everyone would agree that the mother should attempt to do everything that is possible to take care of her body. There are some habits, however, that an extremely difficult to break, even during a pregnancy. The practice of smoking tobacco is one of those habits. Many doctors would argue that smoking is never healthy for the body especially during a pregnancy. For years institutions have sought to produce statistical data to uncover the effects of smoking during a pregnancy. Even with the changing times, statistical studies on this topic, continue to produce the same conclusions. In 1965, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Palo Alto Medical Clinic in California, published a study of the pregnancy data of 5,659 women, who received care at their facilities from 1952 to 1958 (Downing) . This study recorded the end results of each pregnancy for both smokers, of which there were 2,630, and non-smokers, of which there were 3,029 (Downing). This study found mixed results within different types of pregnancy complications. The study found that there were 88 premature births in smokers, compared to 66 in non-smokers (Downing). At the same time there were more of both abortions and post-natal deaths in non-smokers than in smokers. ‘Chart 1-A’ illustrates the comparison of the pregnancies of both the

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