Tag Archives: pregnancy

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Smoking During Pregnancy Increases The Risk Of Baby Developing Schizophrenia

Expectant mothers who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of their baby developing schizophrenia in later life, a study has revealed.

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This image was taken from bbc.co.uk.

Data on 1,000 schizophrenia patients were examined for the study. Scientists matched their birth and health records with those of non-affected ‘control’ individuals.

Smoking habits were assessed by looking at the levels of nicotine marker, cotinine, in their blood.

The results showed that a fifth of mums of schizophrenia patients smoked heavily during pregnancy, compared to 14.7% of mothers of controls.

Smoking during pregnancy can harm your unborn baby as it can reduce oxygen supply to the foetus, which causes their heart to beat harder. This increases the risk of premature birth, low birth weight and stillbirth.

Senior researcher Professor Alan Brown, from the University of Columbia, New York, said: ‘To our knowledge, this is the first biomarker-based study to show a relationship between foetal nicotine exposure and schizophrenia.

These findings underscore the value of ongoing public health education on the potentially debilitating, and largely preventable, consequences that smoking may have on children over time.

Further studies could shed light on exactly how nicotine affects a foetus’ brain.

Finally, it is of interest to examine maternal cotinine in relation to bipolar disorder, autism, and other psychiatric disorders.’

To read more CLICK HERE.

Treatment to help stop smoking will be available soon from UKMeds4U.Com.

 

General

Would Financial Incentives Encourage You To Stop Smoking?

stop smoking
This image was taken from bbc.co.uk.

Hospitals in France are offering money to expectant mothers if they are willing to give up smoking while being pregnant, which will hopefully lead to a smoke free life as a mother.

The new study, carried out by Paris’s public hospital system in association with the National Cancer Institute, will test whether financial incentives will encourage them to stay away from tobacco throughout pregnancy.

The mothers-to-be that show dedication to give up their addiction will be rewarded in €20 vouchers and if they do not start smoking again they can receive up to €300 in total.

Women who are over 18 years old, are less than 4 months pregnant, smoke more then five manufactured cigarettes or three rolled cigarettes each day can participate in the study.

The participants are subject to frequent testing to make sure they are not using e-cigarettes or other tobacco products as these are prohibited.

French health minister Marisol Touraine said France was “the European country where pregnant women smoke the most”.

This statement came after figures revealed that in 2015 one in five French women did not give up smoking during pregnancy.

Smoking during pregnancy can harm your unborn baby as it can reduce oxygen supply to the foetus, which causes their heart to beat harder. This increases the risk of premature birth, low birth weight and stillbirth.

To read more CLICK HERE.

Stop smoking treatment will be available soon from UKMeds4U.Com