Parent Smoking During Pregnancy Raises Kids' H...( We are currently measuring arterial wal...),Health

A weakness of the current study is that it relied on the memories of participants about smoking histories, said Dr. Michael Katz, senior vice president for research and global programs at the March of Dimes Foundation.

And yet, Katz said, "the claim they make is probably valid, because it jibes with many previous studies showing the harmful effects of smoking during pregnancy, by anyone in the household."

"Any smoke in the environment is bad," Katz said. He cited a previous study that showed an increased risk of cleft palate among children of smokers, even if the mothers themselves did not smoke. "It's not by any mysterious way, just by inhaling," Katz said. "That is why smoke-free environments are desirable."

There was one pleasant surprise in doing a study of smoking during pregnancy in the Netherlands, Uiterwaal said. "The smoking rate of mothers in pregnancy of 29 percent in the early 1970s that we found in the present study has dropped to some 4 to 5 percent to date in the Netherlands," he said. "A very fortunate drop from a public health perspective, but it will make this issue more difficult to study at present."

Current estimates are that about 10 percent of American women smoke during pregnancy.

More information

Facts about the incidence and damage due to smoking during pregnancy are available from the March of Dimes Foundation.

SOURCES: Cuno S.P.M. Uiterwaal, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, clinical epidemiology, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Michael Katz, M.D., senior vice president, research and global programs, March of Dimes Foundation, White Plains, N.Y.; December 2008, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Bio
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