Irish Wedding News
08/10/2013
The research, which has been published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, looked at more than 200 children and found that those whose mums smoked regularly while they were in the womb had smaller brains and were at a larger risk of suffering from stress and anxiety.
Scientists suggest the tobacco could affect development by destroying neurons and reducing oxygen to the foetus because of the narrowing of blood vessels.
Exposure to cigarettes in the womb is believed to alter brain structure, but little is known about how the organ's development is affected or if the behavioural problems observed are controlled by these differences.
For the study, Dr Hanan El Marroun and colleagues assessed the brains and emotional functioning of 113 six to eight year-olds whose mothers smoked between one to nine cigarettes a day during pregnancy. Of those, 17 stopped when they discovered they were pregnant, while 96 continued throughout. The results were then compared to a control group of 113 children unexposed to cigarettes in the womb.
The findings revealed that those whose mothers continued smoking had smaller brains with less grey and white matter. They also showed more emotional problems, including depressive symptoms and anxiety. Furthermore, the brain development of children whose mothers quit smoking during pregnancy displayed no such problems.
Dr El Marroun, of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, commented: "It's well known cigarette smoking can cause serious health problems including cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
"Smoking during pregnancy has also been shown to adversely affect offspring health. Yet up to 25 per cent of pregnant women report smoking during pregnancy.
"Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to spontaneous abortions, reduced growth and sudden infant death syndrome.
"During childhood and adolescence, prenatal tobacco exposure has been associated with behavioural and cognitive problems.
"Furthermore, evidence is accumulating prenatal tobacco exposure is related to psychiatric disorders and mortality from childhood to young adulthood.
"Thus having a better understanding of how alterations in the brain due to pre-natal exposure to cigarettes contribute to at-risk states in children is important.
"Largely our results both support and extend the previous neuro-imaging studies in adolescents. For example pre-natal tobacco exposure has been associated with reduction in cortical grey matter in teenagers."
He continued: "Overall, our findings suggest long-term effects of pre-natal tobacco exposure on brain development and emotional problems in young children.
"The results of the current study in combination with the existing literature about the long-term effects of pre-natal tobacco exposure emphasise the importance of preventing and reducing cigarette smoking during pregnancy.
"Our findings provide further support for the need of clinical and public health strategies aimed at the prevention of pre-natal tobacco exposure of children."
He added that more research is needed to explore the structural and functional neuro-developmental effects of prenatal exposure to tobacco.
Researchers estimate that each year in England and Wales several hundred babies are born with a physical defect directly caused by their mother's smoking, with around 3,700 babies in total are born with such a condition.
(JP/CD)
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Kids Born To Smoking Mothers Are 'More Anxious'
A new study has suggested that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to become moody and anxious than other children.The research, which has been published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, looked at more than 200 children and found that those whose mums smoked regularly while they were in the womb had smaller brains and were at a larger risk of suffering from stress and anxiety.
Scientists suggest the tobacco could affect development by destroying neurons and reducing oxygen to the foetus because of the narrowing of blood vessels.
Exposure to cigarettes in the womb is believed to alter brain structure, but little is known about how the organ's development is affected or if the behavioural problems observed are controlled by these differences.
For the study, Dr Hanan El Marroun and colleagues assessed the brains and emotional functioning of 113 six to eight year-olds whose mothers smoked between one to nine cigarettes a day during pregnancy. Of those, 17 stopped when they discovered they were pregnant, while 96 continued throughout. The results were then compared to a control group of 113 children unexposed to cigarettes in the womb.
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The findings revealed that those whose mothers continued smoking had smaller brains with less grey and white matter. They also showed more emotional problems, including depressive symptoms and anxiety. Furthermore, the brain development of children whose mothers quit smoking during pregnancy displayed no such problems.
Dr El Marroun, of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, commented: "It's well known cigarette smoking can cause serious health problems including cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
"Smoking during pregnancy has also been shown to adversely affect offspring health. Yet up to 25 per cent of pregnant women report smoking during pregnancy.
"Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to spontaneous abortions, reduced growth and sudden infant death syndrome.
"During childhood and adolescence, prenatal tobacco exposure has been associated with behavioural and cognitive problems.
"Furthermore, evidence is accumulating prenatal tobacco exposure is related to psychiatric disorders and mortality from childhood to young adulthood.
"Thus having a better understanding of how alterations in the brain due to pre-natal exposure to cigarettes contribute to at-risk states in children is important.
"Largely our results both support and extend the previous neuro-imaging studies in adolescents. For example pre-natal tobacco exposure has been associated with reduction in cortical grey matter in teenagers."
He continued: "Overall, our findings suggest long-term effects of pre-natal tobacco exposure on brain development and emotional problems in young children.
"The results of the current study in combination with the existing literature about the long-term effects of pre-natal tobacco exposure emphasise the importance of preventing and reducing cigarette smoking during pregnancy.
"Our findings provide further support for the need of clinical and public health strategies aimed at the prevention of pre-natal tobacco exposure of children."
He added that more research is needed to explore the structural and functional neuro-developmental effects of prenatal exposure to tobacco.
Researchers estimate that each year in England and Wales several hundred babies are born with a physical defect directly caused by their mother's smoking, with around 3,700 babies in total are born with such a condition.
(JP/CD)
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