Study Shows Risk of Stillbirth Increases in Mothers Who Smoke, Drink



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Women who drank alcohol and smoked during pregnancy had an almost three times greater risk of stillbirth compared with women who completely abstained from these behaviors.

Experts from the University of Stellenbosch (SU) involved in a new international study found that the combined effect of alcohol consumption and smoking during pregnancy compounded the risk of stillbirths and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The study followed the behavior of nearly 12,000 South African and American women during pregnancy and compared the results with their pregnancy outcomes.

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 persisted beyond the first trimester of pregnancy.

The study also found a 12-fold higher risk for Sids in cases where women drank and smoked during pregnancy. In cases where women drank but did not smoke, the risk of Sids increased by four, and when they smoked but did not drink, the chances of Sids were multiplied by five.

Professor Hein Odendaal of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who led the South African chapter of the Safe Pbadage study, said that it was the first study to show that the combination of these risk factors reinforced the negative effects on stillbirths and sids

"What is particularly alarming is that participants in the study.More than half have consumed alcohol (52.3 %) during pregnancy and 17% continued to drink throughout pregnancy

"Almost half of them smoked (49%) sometimes during pregnancy, and one-third (33%) continued to smoke for the duration of the pregnancy, "said Odendaal.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and followed the pregnancies of 11892 women from the first prenatal visit in the first year of life of the child.

According to Odendaal, the Previous studies on the consumption of & # 39; alcohol and / or smoking during pregnancy collecting data that & # 39; after & # 39; s birth, in s & # 39; pressing the memory of the mother's events.

"This study is unique in that we collected data throughout the pregnancy, which we collated with the health data of the mother, the fetus and later the infant," says Odendaal.

Up to three badessments were done on the mother and fetus during pregnancy, and after delivery, three further badessments were made on the infant – at birth, at one month of age. One year and one year

that drinking 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. Even low levels of alcohol and tobacco consumption have affected blood circulation in the umbilical artery, said Odendaal.

The study also found an badociation between smoking and placental insufficiency – a complication of pregnancy where the placenta is unable to provide an adequate supply of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus, and can not fully support the developing baby. ! function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
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