Alcohol and smoking during pregnancy can be fatal

If you thought you could take a few drinks or smoke from time to time, think again, you can play with your baby's life.

A new study from the University of Stellenbosch found that women who smoke and drink during pregnancy are likely to give birth to stillbirth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) also known as name of sudden death.

among 12,000 women in South Africa and the United States over an eight-year period, found the risk of sudden death was 12-fold in smokers and those who drink alcohol.

In cases where women drank but did not smoke, the risk of SIDS increased by 4-fold. In smokers, the risk of sudden infant death was five times higher than for non-smokers.

"This is the first study to show that the combination of these risk factors reinforces the negative effects on stillbirths and SIDS," says Professor Hein Odendaal of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Stellenbosch

. these behaviors were quite common among the participants in the study. More than half consumed alcohol (52.3%) during pregnancy and 17% continued to drink throughout pregnancy. Almost half of them smoked (49%) during pregnancy and one third (33%) continued to smoke during pregnancy, "says Odendaal.

Between 2007 and 2015, this international study tracked consumption and smoking behaviors. The researchers found that women who drank alcohol and smoked during pregnancy had a risk nearly three times higher (2.83 times the relative risk) of stillbirth than women. who has completely refrained from these behaviors.

Smoking alone had a relative risk of 1.6 for stillbirth, while consumption alone had a relative risk of 2.2. This risk increased when these behaviors lasted beyond the first trimester of pregnancy (12 weeks of gestation).

"There has never been such a prospective study on the use of alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy. The researchers found that alcohol consumption and smoking reduced blood flow in the uterine and umbilical arteries (two of the major vessels involved in nutrition and fetal growth) as early as 20-24 weeks of gestation. Once again a compound effect has been noticed, "says Odendaal.

"Even low levels of alcohol and tobacco consumption affected blood flow in the umbilical artery, with higher levels of smoking and alcohol consumption exacerbating these effects on the blood supply. blood circulation. "

The study also established an badociation between insomnia and placental insufficiency.A complication of pregnancy during which the placenta is unable to provide the fetus and can not fully support the development of the baby.