Smoking During Pregnancy May Damage Child's Blood Vessels

Dutch scientists evaluated more than 250 children for signs of arterial damage by means of thickness and flexibility to assess damage caused by smoke exposure while in womb.

In the study, children were evaluated at various points of time. At the initial visit when the child was 4-weeks of age, body dimensions and lung function were measured while parents filled out a survey that included questions regarding smoking before, during pregnancy, and after. At five years of age; the children returned and researchers utilized an ultrasound to measure the thickness and flexibility of the carotid artery, the vessels in the neck that deliver blood to the brain. During this visit updated information about smoking habits was collected from parents.

From the data collected, researchers shared:

The walls of the carotid arteries in five-year-old's whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were 19 microns thicker and 15 percent stiffer than those not exposed to cigarettes while forming in-womb. For those children who were exposed to cigarettes while developing by their mother and exposed to secondhand smoke by their father, the results were worse. Those children's carotid arteries were 28 microns thicker and 21% stiffer than their non-exposed counterparts.

Scientists found no damage effects in children whose mothers did not smoke while pregnant, even if their father did smoke throughout the pregnancy. Researchers were able to conclude that smoking by mothers during pregnancy initiated the damage caused to the carotid arteries with additional smoke exposure furthering the damage.

Smoking while pregnant causes many potential issues for the child. This goes to serve that women who plan to have children should quit smoking prior to conception to protect their child's ability to have proper blood flow to the brain for proper development.