Smoking mothers and low birth weight increase risk of child developing asthma..

September 18, 2009 According to a Swedish study presented at the 19th Annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), being exposed to smoking during fetal development and having a low birth weight increases the risk of developing asthma in childhood by four to six times. Moreover, these two parameters contribute synergistically to asthma in childhood, said the author: Anders Bjerg.

Babies born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are up to six times more likely to develop asthma, according to a Swedish study published at the European Respiratory Society's annual congress on Monday, September 14th.

The study, presented Monday at the European Respiratory Society's annual congress, showed that smoking leads to babies being born underweight, a fact that has an impact on the development of asthma.

Professeur Anders Bjerg of the Sunderby central hospital in Norrbotten and his specialists studied asthma in about 3,400 children between 1996 and 2008.

The study found that babies of smoking mothers had an average weight of 211 grammes less than those of mothers who do not smoke.

Nearly a quarter (24.3 percent) of smoking mothers' babies weighed less than 2.5 kilogrammes at birth against 4.1 percent for those of non-smoking women.

In underweight children of women who smoked throughout their pregnancy the asthma risk was at 23.5 percent, against 7.7 percent in children of non-smoking mothers who were born with an average weight.

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Ten reasons for pregnant women to quit smoking.

It is worth noting, pregnant women exposed to passive smoke greater chance of child will have respiratory distress...

Reference: Smoking during pregnancy raises babies' asthma risk: study, Agence France-Presse (AFP) / Local , 9/15/2009.

Some pregnancy related news briefs: Pregnant women who quit smoking before the 15th week reduce risk of premature birth and small babies..; Pregnant women exposed to passive smoke greater chance of child will have respiratory distress..; Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy Alters Maternal and Fetal Thyroid Function..;