Quit Smoking During Pregnancy

Women who smoke in the first trimester of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children with some of the most common types of genetic problems, according to new research. 

Specifically, women who smoked in early pregnancy were 30% more likely to give birth to children with obstruction to the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs and almost 40% more likely to give birth to children with openings in the upper compartments of the heart. The Dr. Adolfo Correa, the Center for testing and recruiting diseases, (CDC) said that women planning to conceive should stop smoking if they are smokers. 

The findings reinforce previous indications suggested that smoking might increase the risk for certain congenital cardiac lesions. 

The research team reviewed information collected from 2,525 mothers of infants with congenital heart disease and 3,435 mothers of babies born with healthy hearts. 

The researcher and his team focused on 2 types of cardiac lesions that are already associated with smoking in pregnancy-blocked the flow of blood from the right side of the heart, lungs and openings between the upper compartments of the heart. 

If women smoke during pregnancy, the rates of increase, women who smoked in early pregnancy were 35% more likely to deliver a child with abnormal openings and 32% more likely to deliver a child with this type of blockage of blood flow to the lungs . 

Smoking in the second and third quarter might put the risks to the unborn child, says a researcher, but the team focuses on the first quarter because it is time to grow more organs and the fetus is more vulnerable to environmental impact statements. It is also time that might not know about women that are pregnant, which makes it even more imperative to stop smoking before conception occurs.