The Effects of Active and Passive Smoking upon Pregnancy and Fetus

Cigarette smoking is the most important avoidable cause of morbidity and premature death in the world. Maternal smoking during pregnancy is related not only to perinatal adverse events but also to important postnatal problems. Gestational maternal smoking is also associated with many developmental problems, including impaired fetal growth, which is largely assumed to be due to poor placental development, childhood respiratory ill-health, and abnormalities of the nervous system and cognition, as well as possible increased mortality risk for fetuses. Cigarette contains a complex mix of chemicals which can affect fetal development, including metals, nicotine and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Pregnant women who continue their smoking often give birth prematurely, the infants are often small for their gestational age, and they have more perinatal incidents. In addition to active smoking, to exposure the environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major risk factor for respiratory disease in children. ETS exposure during pregnancy and the first years of life has been consistently found to have an impact on the respiratory system including symptoms such as wheezing, cough, bronchitis, RSV bronchiolitis, otitis media and asthma, but also on intrauterine growth, sudden infant death, behaviour and cognitive functioning. [TAF Prev Med Bull. 2008; 7(5): 445-448]