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August 31, 2008Smoking during pregnancy a 'double-edged sword' in SIDS |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function. "Smoking during pregnancy is a double-edged sword with respect to SIDS," said Shabih Hasan, M.D., a staff neonatologist and professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the principal investigator of the new study. "Preterm babies are known to have increased breathing difficulties in proportion to their prematurity and cigarette smoke is known to increase apneas in full-term babies," said Dr. Hasan. They obtained baseline readings on the infants' breathing patterns in normal conditions, assessing breathing rate, pauses in breathing, recovery period and heart rate. The cigarette-smoke exposed infants showed increased heart rate during the hypoxemic period compared with their baseline values, but there was no difference in heart rates was observed in control infants, indicating that the oxygen depletion put their bodies under more stress than the control groups. Regardless of the mechanism, the study has immediate clinical relevance: "Since preterm infants continue to have significant cardiorespiratory events after discharge from the hospital, our study may help identify the infants at risk for attenuated recovery from hypoxemic episodes while at home," said Dr. Hasan. "Furthermore, it might help distinguish the infants, who will arouse in response to hypoxemia.
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