maternal smoking

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Maternal Smoking and its Effect on infant low birth weight

Maternal smoking seems to play a very important role during pregnancy Studies have clearly demonstrated that mothers who smoke during their pregnancy are at a risk for developing babies who are of low birth weight , very low birth weight , born before their actual data of delivery or develop IUGR . In this , we would be taking a look at four different studies including Nakhaee et al (2008 ) on a Southern Iranian population , Reifsnider , et

al (2008 ) on a Texas population , Vega et al (1993 ) on a Chilean population and the Ohio Department of Health Study 1989 . All these studies have clearly demonstrated that low birth weight is mainly attributed due to maternal smoking during the pregnancy period

The Ohio Study was conducted during the period of January to June 1989 on Black and White mothers . The low birth weight infant included those below 2500 grams and very low birth weight infants included those below 1500 grams . Preterm delivery infants where those who were born before 37 weeks of delivery . Several factors were attributed to cause these problems including maternal drug abuse , alcohol abuse , smoking , age birth , previous MTP 's , weight of the mother , etc . The study clearly demonstrated that smoking resulted in low and very low birth weight and preterm delivery , than those women who did not smoke . About 23 of the women smoked during their pregnancy and White women were twice more likely...