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Pregnant Moms who Smoke Increase their Children's Risk of Nicotine Dependence

Smoking in any capacity is known to have dire health risks. Smoking while pregnant carries risks for two. The habit in general is known to cause lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. For those who are pregnant, smoking poses risks for the unborn child. It can cause low birth weight and may result in birth defects. Studies now show that heavy smoking among pregnant women can also predispose little ones to nicotine dependence later in life. It also increases the risk that these children will pick up the habit at a younger age.

The most recent study was a collaborative effort conducted by three universities - University of Helsinki, Finland, the Saint Petersburg Pavlov Medical University in Russia, and the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bio-organic Chemistry in Moscow, Russia. The study confirms researchers' hypothesis that adolescents who are exposed to smoking in the womb are more likely to smoke earlier in life than others. The results of the study can be found in the European Journal of Pharmacology.

Researchers claim that early exposure to nicotine actually alters the way the brain causes the body to react to nicotine. The results of the study support previous studies on the subject. In fact, a study published in 2003, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health in conjunction with Brown Medical School showed that exposure to large amounts of the drug in utero increased the risk of being addicted to it later in life by twice as much. Heavy exposure was considered to be a pack or more of cigarettes per day.

Researchers examined the grown children of 50,000 births from women participating in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP) between 1959 and 1966, and the children were followed up to age seven. Those conducting the study discovered that, of the women participating in the survey, more than 60 percent smoked while pregnant, and more than a third smoked over a pack of cigarettes a day. Interestingly enough, heavy smoking in pregnancy did not lead to increased risk of marijuana usage among the children.

Smoking-related ailments are some of the leading causes of premature death in developed countries such as the United States. Many of these deaths could easily be avoided. In the U.S. alone, smoking and its related diseases claim the lives of approximately a half-million people each year.

The results of the study have implications for how doctors and other healthcare professionals council pregnant women during their prenatal and post-delivery pediatric visits. Women should be informed not only of the dangers that smoking poses to them, but they also need to know that they risk passing on their bad habit to their children. The availability of smoking education and cessation programs during these visits is key. If you or someone you know would like more information about quitting smoking, visit www.smokefree.gov.

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