Here is the first installment of Medical News Monday. Each week you can look forward to finding out some of the latest news in health, fitness and wellness. For our first week, we’ll look at a study that was done on mothers who smoked during their pregnancy and the effects it had on their offspring. You may be thinking while reading this, “well I know exactly what happens when pregnant mothers smoke.” You may speculate that what I’m about to tell you will not be good, but I’ll proceed.
Researchers found that arterial damage could be found in children as young as 5 years old when they’re mothers smoked during pregnancy. The arterial damage in the carotid artery (the ones in the neck) were significantly thicker in those children whose mothers smoked. The greatest carotid arterial damage was seen in those children whom had both parents smoking during and after pregnancy. These children had lower ability of the arteries to expand is lowered by 15% in mothers that smoked during pregnancy and was found to be 21% lower in those children with 2 parents that smoked.
When researchers had a four-week intervention that included counseling, medications and education only 23% of the parents quit smoking. For those of you that couldn’t do the math that means about 75% of parents were educated on the impact of smoking during and after pregnancy on their children and were given counseling and medical interventions and continued anyway.
Any thoughts?
References
1) Walsh, N. (2011). Smoking during pregnancy damages arteries in offspring. MedPage Today. http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Smoking/30388?
2) Photo courtesy of Stokes / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: Louisa Stokes / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
