That tobacco is harmful to the fetus, the baby and children, is a fact confirmed a long time ago. In fact, we insist on the importance of quitting the tobacco habit before thinking about being a mother and not smoking in front of our children.
Among the negative effects of smoking during pregnancy are demonstrated: low birth weight, intrauterine development delay, premature birth, infant mortality and long-term developmental problems.
Now, the study 'Relationship of cigarette consumption and cessation of cigarette consumption by the mother with premature birth', published in 'JAMA Network Open', has concluded that if the woman has not been able to quit smoking before of pregnancy, it is convenient that you do it in pregnancy: the cessation of cigarette consumption, especially at the beginning of pregnancy, reduces the risk of premature births up to 20%, even in very frequent smokers.
One in five pregnant women smokes during pregnancy
The lead author of the study conducted by the Geisel School of Medicine in Daretmouth (USA), Samir Soneji, clarifies that due to the substantial benefits of quitting smoking during pregnancy "It is worrying that the proportion of smokers before pregnancy who quit smoking during the same period has remained practically stagnant since 2011".
According to their research, about 25 percent of women who smoked before becoming pregnant were able to quit smoking during this. In addition, approximately half of the pregnant women who continued smoking during pregnancy consumed more than ten cigarettes per day.
Some worrying data that are also maintained in Spain, where a study on tobacco exposure, published in 'Prevention of Smoking', the journal of the Smoking Area of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), revealed that on 19 % of women smoke during pregnancy.
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The new research of the Geisel School of Medicine in Daretmouth has shown a reduction in the risk of premature delivery among pregnant women who smoked before pregnancy and quit at the beginning or during the development of the same, after an extensive cross-sectional study.
Using data from the US National Center for Health Statistics, they studied 25 million pregnant women, aged 25 to 29, who gave birth to infants for a period of six years (2011-2017). In addition, they measured how much they smoked three months before pregnancy and in each trimester during pregnancy.
The results showed that the probability of preterm birth decreased more as soon as smoking was abandoned: Up to 20 percent if left at the beginning of pregnancy.
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Sonjei explains that "Pregnancy can be a time of stress during a woman's life, and women who smoked before pregnancy can start smoking or continue smoking as a way to relieve stress."
But he adds that, as it is also a time of many medical checks, a good opportunity arises to ask for specialized help and overcome the habit of tobacco.
In Babies and more Is stress hereditary? A study analyzes the consequences of suffering during pregnancyAnd we are left with another of the conclusions of this American study: precisely The most smokers are the ones that provide the most benefits to your baby when you quit smoking during pregnancy. Your principal investigator ensures that "Even among women who smoke a pack per day or more there may be a substantial reduction in the risk of premature births if they stop smoking at the beginning of pregnancy".
Undoubtedly, this study provides another reason to quit tobacco, even in pregnancy. And I know how difficult it is to quit, because I have been a smoker for most of my life.
But I am also a mother and, like all of us, we do everything possible (and more) to take care of our own. And knowing that it is not too late to break the last cigarette while you feel your baby growing inside you, is a very strong incentive to try at least.
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