The children of women who smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk of suffering strokes or heart attacks later in life, a new study concludes.
Reuters reported March 2 that children of smokers — studied as young adults — were found to have thicker walls around the carotid arteries in their necks, making them more vulnerable to stroke and heart attacks. Children of women who smoked the most during pregnancy had the thickest arterial walls, researchers found.
“There is the possibility that the compounds in tobacco smoke go through the placenta and directly damage the cardiovascular system of the fetus,” said researcher Cuno Uiterwaal at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. “The damage appears to be permanent and stays with the children.”
Source: Findings presented at a recent American Heart Association conference in Orlando. March 5, 2007