EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON PREGNANCY, INFANTS, AND GENETICSWhile smoking does not affect fertility in males, it does affect fertility in females. It took 50-70 percent longer for female smokers to conceive than it did for female nonsmokers.The birth weight of a baby born to a woman who smoked during the pregnancy is considerably lower than the birth weight of a child of a nonsmoker. The more the mother smokes, the more the infant’s birth weight decreases. This weight deficiency is due to retardation of growth, probably from the harmful effects of carbon monoxide, which decreases the amount of oxygen delivered to the fetus. Smoking during pregnancy may affect subsequent child development, physical growth, and mental development at least up to the age of 11.Smoking during pregnancy increases the developing fetus’s risk of cancer by 50 percent. Other studies have confirmed this finding.The risk of spontaneous abortion and of the fetus dying at birth are higher if the mother smoked during pregnancy, probably because there was less oxygen delivered to the fetus. There are more premature births and more deaths of these premature infants—and a higher incidence of the “sudden infant death syndrome”—in babies delivered from mothers who smoked during pregnancy.Heavy cigarette smokers have a higher frequency of genetic abnormalities and have a high frequency of sperm abnormalities, the latter probably due to the genetic damage caused by smoking. In addition, smoking has a pronounced effect on some drugs, food products, and laboratory blood tests.*70\360\2*
EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON PREGNANCY, INFANTS, AND GENETICS
While smoking does not affect fertility in males, it does affect fertility in females. It took 50-70 percent longer for female smokers to conceive than it did for female nonsmokers.
The birth weight of a baby born to a woman who smoked during the pregnancy is considerably lower than the birth weight of a child of a nonsmoker. The more the mother smokes, the more the infant’s birth weight decreases. This weight deficiency is due to retardation of growth, probably from the harmful effects of carbon monoxide, which decreases the amount of oxygen delivered to the fetus. Smoking during pregnancy may affect subsequent child development, physical growth, and mental development at least up to the age of 11.
Smoking during pregnancy increases the developing fetus’s risk of cancer by 50 percent. Other studies have confirmed this finding.
The risk of spontaneous abortion and of the fetus dying at birth are higher if the mother smoked during pregnancy, probably because there was less oxygen delivered to the fetus. There are more premature births and more deaths of these premature infants—and a higher incidence of the “sudden infant death syndrome”—in babies delivered from mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
Heavy cigarette smokers have a higher frequency of genetic abnormalities and have a high frequency of sperm abnormalities, the latter probably due to the genetic damage caused by smoking. In addition, smoking has a pronounced effect on some drugs, food products, and laboratory blood tests.
*70\360\2*
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