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Impact on Unborn Babies, Infants, Children, and Adolescents
- Research has shown that
women’s smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy
complications, premature delivery, low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). (p. 527, 601)
- The nicotine in cigarettes
may cause constrictions in the blood vessels of the umbilical cord and
uterus, thereby decreasing the amount of oxygen available to the fetus.
Nicotine also may reduce the amount of blood in the fetal cardiovascular
system. (p. 564)
- Nicotine is found in
breast milk. (p. 616)
- Babies of mothers who
smoked during pregnancy have lower birth weights. Low birth weight is a
leading cause of infant deaths, resulting in more than 300,000 deaths
annually among newborns in the United
States. (p. 565, Ventura
et al. 2000)
- In general, pregnant smokers eat more than pregnant nonsmokers, yet
their babies weigh less than babies of nonsmokers. This weight deficit is
smaller if smokers quit early in their pregnancy. (p. 564–5)
- Smoking by the mother
causes SIDS.
Compared with unexposed infants, babies
exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are at twice the risk for SIDS, and
infants whose mothers smoked before and after birth are at three to four
times greater risk. (p. 584-585, 601)
- Mothers’ smoking during
pregnancy reduces their babies’ lung function. (p. 467, 508)
- In 2001, 17.5% of teenaged
mothers smoked during pregnancy. Only 18% to 25% of all women quit smoking
once they become pregnant. (p. 527, 550)
- Children and adolescents
who smoke are less physically fit and have more respiratory illnesses than
their nonsmoking peers. In general, smokers’ lung function declines faster
that that of nonsmokers. (p. 485, 509)
- Smoking by children and
adolescents hastens the onset of lung function decline during late
adolescence and early adulthood. (p. 473-474, 508-509)
- Smoking by children and
adolescents is related to impaired lung growth, chronic coughing, and
wheezing. (p. 473-474, 485, 508–509)
Citations
- U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the
Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2004.
-
Ventura SJ, Mosher WD, Curtin SC, Abma JC,
Henshaw S. Trends in pregnancies and pregnancy rates by outcome: Estimates
for the United States, 1976–96. National Center for Health Statistics.
Vital and Health Statistics 2000;21(56).
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and has negative
health impacts on people at all stages of life. It harms unborn babies,
infants, children, adolescents, adults, and seniors.
SGR Fact Sheets
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