PAPER: Maternal cigarette smoking greater risk that babies would be born with congenital heart defects..

March 9, 2011 - Maternal cigarette smoking in early pregnancy was linked to a 20% to 70% greater risk that babies would be born with certain types of congenital heart defects, researchers at the CDC found. The investigators investigated associations between maternal cigarette smoking during the first trimester and the risk of congenital heart defects (CHDs) among the infants.

News brief based on same research paper:
PAPER: women who smoke cigarettes during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase their offspring's risk for congenital heart defects (CHDs)..

PAPER: Maternal Smoking and Congenital Heart Defects in the Baltimore-Washington Infant Study
Clinton J. Alverson, MS, Matthew J. Strickland, PhD, Suzanne M. Gilboa, PhD, Adolfo Correa, MD, PhD, PEDIATRICS Vol. 127 No. 3 March 2011, pp. e647-e653, http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/3/e647?ijkey=08c0ade29c6391e287cfe341cbd37b3d63518af8&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha">ABSTRACT..

The Baltimore-Washington Infant Study (BWIS), a population-based etiologic study of congenital heart defects, included data from 2,525 case and 3,455 control infants enrolled from 1981 to 1989. Excluded were those whose mothers had overt pregestational diabetes and infants with noncardiac anomalies, except for those with atrioventricular septal defects with Down syndrome.

Maternal cigarette smoking was assessed using in-person, postpartum interviews. Respondents reported smoking during five time periods: 4 to 6 months before conception; 1 to 3 months before conception; and during each trimester. The number of cigarettes smoked per each time period was grouped as 0, 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 39, and 40 or more per day. Researchers focused on first-trimester smoking only. ORs equaled 20-cigarette/day increase in consumption.

Eliminating smoking before or very early in pregnancy could prevent as many as 100 cases of right ventricular outflow tract obstructions and 700 cases of atrial septal defects each year in the United States. For atrial septal defects alone, that could potentially save $16 million in hospital costs, according to a CDC press release.

Successful cessation of reduction of maternal smoking during pregnancy also might yield reductions in other adverse pregnancy outcomes for which there are known associations, including preterm delivery, low birth weight, and oral clefts.”

Pregnant - it's best to be tobacco free to avoid a miscarriage..">

Reference: Maternal cigarette smoking in early pregnancy linked to higher rates of heart defects in infants , Alverson CJ, Pediatric SuperSite, 3/1/2011.