Cigarette Threat

New research highlights an important threat to babies' health...a threat that pregnant women can avoid. Hi, I'm Dr. Cindy Haines, host of HealthDay TV. A recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine focuses on the harm that smoking during pregnancy can cause. The researchers looked at statistics from 2002 on more than 3 million babies born in the United States.

Smoking during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of premature delivery. It was also associated with more than double the risk of having a baby born on time but with a low birth weight.
The researchers found that smoking in pregnancy was also linked to a nearly three-fold higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, as well as a higher risk of death related to premature birth.

They estimated that up to 7.7 percent of preterm deliveries, 19 percent of full-term, low birth weight deliveries, and 7.3 percent of preterm-related deaths were due to smoking during pregnancy. The March of Dimes urges women to stop smoking before they become pregnant, and to not smoke during the pregnancy or after the baby is born. Health care providers can offer advice and referrals to programs that can help women quit. I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news that doctors are reading; health news that matters to you.