Birth Defects Added to List of Dangers of Smoking While Pregnant

Pregnant moms, new research is showing even more reason to kick the habit – smoking while pregnant has now been linked to increased risk of birth defects.

The list of harmful effects caused by smoking during pregnancy is already quite long. Issues like asthma, low birth weight and chance of miscarriage or early labor have all been identified. It may seem odd that the link between smoking and birth defects was never studied, but up till now, the only study that had been conducted was on the connection between smoking and orofacial clefts.

The new study was run out of the UK, and included the review of over 10,000 existing studies. Of these, 172 observational studies (which encompassed 173,687 cases of birth defects and 11,674,332 cases without) from the past 50 years were examined.

The results from the analysis showed that smoking during pregnancy did lead to greater risk of birth defects, including the following:

• Skull defects, 33 percent increase
• Club foot, 28 percent increase
• Cleft lip / palate, 28 percent increase
• Missing / deformed limbs, 28 percent increase
• Gastrointestinal defects, 27 percent increase
• Cardiovascular / heart defects, 9 percent increase

While these findings seem difficult to ignore, the knowledge on the dangers of smoking while pregnant isn’t always a deterrent for women who smoke. According to 2004 statistics from PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System), roughly 13 percent of women smoke in their last trimester of pregnancy, with over 27 percent of these women smoking 11 or more cigarettes a day.

The medical and research community are calling for greater awareness on the issue of smoking while pregnant, and an increase in educational materials and support programs to help mothers-to-be or women who want to become pregnant kick the habit for the health of their child.