Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have heart defects that are not related to genetics, Reuters reported April 9.
Researcher Sadia Malik of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and colleagues compared more than 3,000 infants born with heart defects to a similar group of infants without heart problems. They found that heart defects were more common among children of women who smoked during the month before they became pregnant or during the first trimester of their pregnancy. Moreover, the risk of babies being born with heart problems was higher when mothers smoked more.
“If even a fraction of congenital heart defects and other birth defects could be prevented by decreasing maternal tobacco use, it would result in improved reproductive outcomes and a saving of millions of health care dollars,” the researchers said.
Source: April 2008 issue of the journal Pediatrics.