Just one cigarette a day, either before or during pregnancy, is enough to cause significant health problems in the baby, according to a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
The results show that there is no safe period or level of tobacco use shortly before or during pregnancy, a topic that had not been studied as much.
Many women believe that they can smoke safely before conception or at the beginning of pregnancywhich is why the authors call for promoting smoking cessation.
One in ten pregnant women in the United States smokes, even though smoking during pregnancy is known to increase the risk of premature birth, low birth weight and impaired growth in the womb.
Health problems for babies
The authors of this new research analyzed data from 12.1 million births in the U.S. between 2016 and 2019. Of these, about 9% of mothers had quit smoking before pregnancy, 7% in the first trimester, 6% in the second trimester, and just under 6% in the third trimester.
Smoking before pregnancy or in each of the 3 trimesters of pregnancy was associated with a increased risk of neonatal problems Severe: need for assisted ventilation immediately after delivery; assisted ventilation for more than 6 hours; admission to the Intensive Care Unit for continued mechanical ventilation; suspected sepsis, seizures or severe neurological problems.
The risk of having more than one serious neonatal health problem if the mother smoked before pregnancy was 27% higher, and 31-32% higher if you smoked at any time pregnancy, and the risk of admission to neonatal intensive care was 24% higher if the mother smoked before pregnancy, and 30-32% higher if she smoked during pregnancy.
It is better not to smoke at any time.
Women who smoked only before pregnancy or only during the first, second, or third trimester were more likely to have their newborn suffer more than one major health problem than women who did not smoke at any time.
Even smoking one or two cigarettes a day was associated with an increased risk of major neonatal health problems. For example, among mothers who smoked 1-2 cigarettes a day Before pregnancy, the risk was 16% higher, and increased to 31% if they smoked 20 cigarettes a day or more.
(With information from EFE)
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