Tobacco
Tobacco is one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States.
Nicotine, which is an alkaloid derived from the tobacco plant, is a potent chemical that has powerful effects on the human body, especially when administered rapidly or at high doses. Prenatal exposure to nicotine is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes, including altered neural structure and functioning, cognitive deficits, and behavior problems in the offspring (9). At least 20% - 30% of pregnant women are estimated to smoke cigarettes, although smoking is associated with low birth weight, prematurity and infant mortality. In the United States, smoking accounts annually for estimated fetal deaths ranging from 19,000 to 141,000, for 1,900
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A similar study by Lauren S. Wakschlag, on maternal smoking during pregnancy and the risk of conduct disorder in boys, revealed that mothers who smoked more than half a pack of cigarettes daily during pregnancy were significantly more likely to have offspring who met DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder during the preadolescent or adolescent years than women who did not smoke or smoked only occasionally during pregnancy. These findings support previous work showing that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased rates of preschool and school-age behavior problems and delinquency in the offspring.
The relationship between smoking and low birth weight, prematurity, and miscarriage has been well established. The effects of nicotine are seen in every trimester of pregnancy, from increased spontaneous abortions in the first trimester to increased premature delivery rates and decreased birth weights in the final trimester. In 1957, Simpson first noted in an observational study of 7,499 patients that the incidence of premature delivery, as defined by a birth weight less than 2,500g, was twice as great for the smoking mother as compared with the nonsmoking mother (5). A similar study by Walsh concluded that the smoking mother is at two-fold increased risk for delivering a low birth weight infant than her nonsmoking
Nicotine replacement therapy is not generally recommended for pregnant women and persons who have experienced an acute myocardial infarction within 2 weeks, have unstable angina, or have life threatening dysrhythmias. (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, Bucher, & Camera, 2011, p. 170)
Pregnancy is a joyful time for most families because that means the mother is bringing a new member into the world who will be welcomed into the family. A mother holding her newborn healthy baby in her arms for the first time makes her feel a sense of pride. This is because she has followed all of her doctor’s instructions and listened to his advice on how to keep herself healthy, and how to deliver a healthy baby after her nine months are up. But what if the new mom to be did not listen to the doctor’s advice? What if she decided to smoke during her pregnancy because she assumed it would not hurt the baby? What health problems or birth defects would the baby be challenged with when it was born? Women who smoke during their pregnancies on
Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy could lead to the placenta not developing fully. As the placenta carries oxygen and blood to the foetus this may impair growth and link to low birth weights. Babies born to smoking mothers are 30% more likely to have a premature baby which could lead to respiratory distress, problems feeding and they could have difficulty regulating their body temperature. Babies undergo withdrawal like systems and tend to be more jittery and harder to settle. Babies being brought up in a smoking household are at increased risk of cot death and may go on to develop asthma during childhood.
The NIOSH study reveals that working women’s i.e., reproductive age involved in smoking has adverse effects on their pregnancy and the health of their infant. The evaluation of data of 2009-2013 from the National Health Interview Survey discovered there were 17% of working women who were smokers at their reproductive age and 76% were daily smokers. Further, the study shows the women working in certain industries and businesses have higher smoking
Infants whose mothers smoked during their pregnancy are more likely to become victims of SIDS, something as simple as quitting smoking can potentially save your child’s life. Also, it is more prevalent in families where cigarette smoke is found in the home regularly (Caldwell, 1995). SIDS deaths do recur in families; the rate among siblings of babies who die of SIDS is four to seven times higher than that for those who Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 3 have never had an incidence (Valdes-Dapena,
One out of five babies who's mothers smoke while pregnant are born with low birth weight. Cigarettes contain more then 4,000 chemicals but even though none of these chemicals are good for a baby nicotine and carbon monoxide are what effects the baby most. Nicotine and carbon monoxide get into the babies bloodstream, the only source of oxygen and nutrients. When nicotine and carbon monoxide work together and
Overall, of 103830 records 82534 mothers’ data were analyzed that were obtained from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Certificate of Live Birth. Descriptive results of maternal and birth characteristics are shown in Table 1. Approximately, 57% of the mothers were white, 33% black, 7% Asian, and 3.6% other ethnicities, respectively. 29% of the maternal age at delivery was between 20-24 years old, 22% was between 25-29 years old, 19% was between 30-34 years old, 14% was between 19 years and younger, 11% was between 35-39 years old, and 4% was between 40 years and older, respectively. The number of LBW babies (< 2500 g) among mothers who smoked and non-smoked were 1359 (1.6%) and 81144 (98.3%), respectively. 16 % of mothers who smoked (n=5544) gave low birth weight babies. 5.4% of low birth weight babies had mothers smoked between 10-14 cigarettes per day.
Smoking well pregnant can expose your child to harmful chemicals. Some of the chemicals in smoke won’t allow oxygen to the blood stream, such as carbon monoxide. Nicotine causes less oxygen and nutrients reach the fetus.
Exposure to second hand smoke, also called involuntary smoking, occurs when non-smokers breathe in the cigarette smoke from others around them. Second hand smoke is harmful to both pregnant women and infants (NTP). Paternal smoking reduces birth weight by about 2 oz. (Berger 115). After birth, babies exposed to cigarette smoke may experience more colds, lung problems, and even ear infections.
Among the many environmental factors that can affect infant learning, prenatal cigarette exposure has proven to be a topic of interest in behavioral teratology due to the large number of health effects it is associated with. Some of the health effects of prenatal cigarette exposure include: lower birth weight, smaller head circumference, lower IQ, attention dysfunction, hyperactivity and other conduct problems, as well as school failure (Mezzacappa, E., 2011, p. 881-891). There are some human studies that investigate the cognitive deficits related to prenatal cigarette exposure which include: auditory, visual attention, and working memory issues.
The web of causation includes the interrelationships of factors that contribute to either the smoking of the mother during pregnancy, or the decision to abstain from smoking. These factors include many scenarios in which the mother may choose to smoke. Younger women had lower odds of smoking when compared with original non-smokers and quitters, and older women with less than a 12th grade education had a higher chance of continued smoking. Women with a mental health history and high stress scores also have higher odds of continued smoking compared to non-smokers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, women on Medicaid had the largest rate of smoking while pregnant compared with those on private insurance (2007). It was also found that both stress and depression are linked with continued smoking. Both socioeconomic factors as well as life stressors seem to have a high influence on the incidence of continued smoking during the duration of a pregnancy.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is associated with numerous adverse outcomes in offspring, such as cognitive problems (Batty et al. 2006; Gilman et al. 2008a, b) and criminal behavior (D’Onofrio et al. 2010a, b; Brennan et al. 2002; Wakschlag et al. 2002). These associations are often attributed to the causal effects of teratogenic insults on the developing offspring (for reviews, see Wakschlag et al. 2002; Cornelius and Day 2009). Several lines of evidence support this causal inference, as animal models have suggested neural mechanisms (e.g., interference with cell proliferation and growth; Guerri 1998) by which neurodevelopmental effects may occur (Nordberg et al. 1991); dose-dependent effects have been found in which greater
Despite the fact that changes in medical care for pre-term babies, the United States is actually still having exceedingly bad result in infant deaths than any other developed countries. Smoking cigarettes throughout pregnancy are one of the absolute most imperative avoidable driving causes. Compared with other risk factors in the perinatal period, exposure to tobacco smoke is thought to be the riskiest one, and it can prompt to complications such as low birth weight, congenital disabilities, and sudden infant death syndrome, and all of which combine the causes of infant
-Smoking, alcohol or drug use: Women who smoke tobacco cigarettes have higher rates of preterm delivery and intrauterine growth restriction (Hammoud et al., 2005). Hammoud’s study of pregnant smokers found the odds ratio for intrauterine growth restriction was 2.4 (95% CI, 2.34-2.53), and the odds ratio for preterm delivery was 1.2 (95% CI, 1.13-1.28). The more cigarettes the women smoked per day, the higher the reductions in birth weight; −111 g, −175 g, and −236 g when women smoked 1 to 5, 6 to 10, and >10 cigarettes
Smoking starts causing harm, even to the unborn. A mother is a baby`s only form of life support through the umbilical cord. So,