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Prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke raises blood pressure in infants |
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From Journal of the American Heart Association: Infants whose mothers smoke during pregnancy have substantially higher blood pressures in their first months of life, Dutch researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. A study of 456 infants in The Netherlands showed that, by age 2 months, babies born to mothers who smoked had higher systolic blood pressures compared to those whose mothers didn't smoke and weren't exposed to smoke during pregnancy. "Our findings indicate maternal smoking during pregnancy has a direct substantial impact on systolic blood pressure in early infancy and is another reason for women not to smoke during pregnancy," said Caroline C. Geerts, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. Infants born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy had 5.4 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) higher systolic blood pressure levels than babies whose mothers were not exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy. For years, women have been advised against smoking during pregnancy, which can result in intrauterine growth retardation, insufficient fetal growth that leads to low birth weight. In the study -- Wheezing Illnesses Study Leidsche Rijn (WHISTLER) -- researchers assessed parents of newborns living in a residential area of Utrecht. "We can only speculate on the reason for this," said Geerts, adding that it has been shown that male infants react significantly different in response to pain with an increase in systolic blood pressure. Geerts said it's important to study infants and children to obtain a better insight into cardiovascular disease that occurs later in life.
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