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Many pregnant women still smoking, Alberta study of 28,000 shows ($$) 

A disturbing number of women in Alberta are smoking during pregnancy despite the well-established risks to both the mother and the fetus, a new provincial study has found.In what is billed as the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Canada, the Alberta government tracked chemicals, metals and minerals in the blood of pregnant women and, in general, found levels of contaminants on par with or lower than accepted levels nationally and around the world.

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Smoking rampant among pregnant women in Alberta 

A new report that shows a startling number of women in Alberta smoke while pregnant provides a clear warning sign the province's approach is falling short, a University of Calgary researcher says.

A recently-released 2005 Alberta Health and Wellness study examined 28,484 samples from pregnant women randomly selected from 50,599 serum samples used for a provincewide bio-monitoring test from January to December 2005.

It found that the levels of cotinine--a nicotine metabolite and marker of cigarette smoke exposure-- were unusually high among expecting Alberta women, particularly those in northern Alberta and younger than 25-years-old.

According to the study, between 25 to 32 per cent of former and current smokers lit up regularly during their most recent pregnancy. The national average is 19 to 22 per cent.

This, despite a provincial government strategy to reduce 2000-01 smoking rates in pregnant women from 32 per cent to 12 per cent in 2010-11.

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Newborns Exposed To Maternal Smoking More Irritable, Difficult To Soothe 

Now new research by The Miriam Hospital reveals that these babies are also less likely to self-soothe and are more aroused and excitable than newborns whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy.

Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine say early identification and targeted intervention efforts aimed at both infants and parents may help prevent possible disruption in early maternal-infant bonding and, ultimately, long-term adverse outcomes. The study is published online by the Journal of Pediatrics.

"A baby who is harder to soothe and more irritable could be more difficult to take care of and could potentially affect the developing mother-child relationship, especially for mothers who are already stressed and have fewer resources," says lead author Laura Stroud, PhD, a psychologist with The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. "We need better treatment programs to help women not smoke during pregnancy, to keep them from starting smoking after the baby is born, and to help them take care of an excitable or colicky baby."

Between 11 and 30 percent of women continue to smoke during pregnancy

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• Safer cigarette smoke just as harmful to embryos 

Smoke from so-called harm-reduction cigarettes is just as dangerous to developing embryos as smoke from standard cigarettes, and may be even more toxic, new experiments with mouse embryo stem cells show.

The smoke issuing from the ends of these cigarettes is more harmful than the fumes inhaled through a filter, Dr. Prue Talbot of the University of California, Riverside and her colleagues report in the journal Human Reproduction.

There has been very little research on the chemicals remaining in cigarettes treated to remove certain toxic and cancer-causing substances and even less on how smoke from these cigarettes might affect developing embryos, Talbot told Reuters Health. "The caveat is there are many things in smoke besides the known carcinogens -- smoke has somewhere between 4,000 and 6,000 chemicals in it," she said.

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Not smoking saved Whitley family £600  

A family from Whitley has already saved £600 for their Christmas fund despite the credit crunch because they have quit spending money on cigarettes.

Jenny and Jamie Thomas have completely stubbed out their 20-a-day habit and say life has never been better with their five-year-old daughter Beth and another baby on the way.

Mrs Thomas wanted to quit when she became pregnant in May and she sought the advice of the new stop smoking counsellor at Whitley Health Centre.

She was attending an appointment at the pregnancy clinic with her husband when Diane Connelly, the stop smoking advisor, suggested they both had a go at quitting.

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• Number of female smokers on the rise  

The number of Thai women smokers is expected to drastically rise from 1,664,000 in 2000 to 12 million in 2025, according to the Action on Smoking and Health Thailand Foundation. Meanwhile, a survey conducted last year by the National Statistical Office shows that 17,059 women were habitual smokers.

The number of Thai women smokers is expected to drastically rise from 1,664,000 in 2000 to 12 million in 2025, according to the Action on Smoking and Health Thailand Foundation. Meanwhile, a survey conducted last year by the National Statistical Office shows that 17,059 women were habitual smokers.

The foundation's secretary, Dr Prakit Wateesatokkit, said the rising number of female smokers could be blamed upon the intensive marketing strategies employed by tobacco companies.

"We have to address this issue immediately and educate them about the dangers of smoking," he said.

Another study done this year by Chulalongkorn University found that the key reason behind pregnant women smoking was that they wanted to try it out, were persuaded by friends or believed cigarettes helped them relax.

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Harm-reduction cigarettes are more toxic than traditional cigarettes, study finds 

But a UC Riverside study now shows that smoke from these "light" or "low-yield" harm-reduction cigarettes retains toxicity and that this toxicity can affect prenatal development.

"Many chemicals found in harm-reduction cigarette smoke have not been tested, and some are listed by manufacturers as safe," said Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology who led the study. "But our tests on mice clearly show that these chemicals adversely affect reproduction and associated development processes. The effects are likely to be the same in humans, in which case pregnant women would be particularly vulnerable to the effect of smoke from these cigarettes."

Talbot's research team used mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) as a model for pre-implantation embryos—embryos that have not yet implanted in the wall of the uterus—and compared the toxicity on these cells of cigarette smoke emanating from traditional and harm-reduction brands.

Further, they studied the effects on the mESCs of two kinds of cigarette smoke: mainstream smoke, which is smoke actively inhaled by smokers; and sidestream smoke, which is smoke that burns off the end of a cigarette.

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• Increased Risk Of Fertility Problems In Women Exposed To Secondhand Smoke 

If you need another reason to quit smoking, consider that it may diminish your chances of being a parent or grandparent. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that women exposed to second hand smoke, either as adults or children, were significantly more likely to face fertility problems and suffer miscarriages.

An epidemiologic analysis of more than 4,800 non-smoking women showed those who were exposed to second hand smoke six or more hours per day as children and adults faced a 68 percent greater chance of having difficulty getting pregnant and suffering one or more miscarriages. The study is published online in Tobacco Control and is one of the first publications to demonstrate the lasting effects of second hand smoke exposure on women during childbearing years.

"These statistics are breathtaking and certainly points to yet another danger of second hand smoke exposure," said Luke J. Peppone, Ph.D., research assistant professor at Rochester's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

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Smoking May Harm the Egg, Embryo 

In research that might have implications for human reproduction, U.S. and Chinese scientists have found that cigarette smoke damages mouse eggs and embryos.

The study was designed to examine whether cigarette smoke causes oxidative stress, cell death and dysfunction, and the shortening of telomeres (DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degradation). Two groups of female mice were exposed to cigarette smoke or cigarette smoke condensate for four weeks and compared to a control group of mice.

The mice exposed to cigarette smoke or the condensate were more likely than the unexposed mice to show increased fragmentation and delayed fertilization, resulting in impaired embryo development, the study found.

The fragmented eggs also showed oxidative stress, and embryos from mice exposed to cigarette smoke or condensate for four weeks before fertilization were more likely to contain dead cells and altered expression of the protein Oct4, which plays an important role in the formation of viable blastocysts (a stage of embryonic development). . . .

The study was published in the November issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.

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• Harm-reduction Cigarettes Are More Toxic Than Traditional Cigarettes, UC Riverside Study Finds 

Typically, tobacco companies market harm-reduction cigarettes as being safer than traditional "full-flavored" brands, leading many smokers to conclude that the use of harm-reduction brands lowers their exposure to toxicants.

But a UC Riverside study now shows that smoke from these "light" or "low-yield" harm-reduction cigarettes retains toxicity and that this toxicity can affect prenatal development.

"Many chemicals found in harm-reduction cigarette smoke have not been tested, and some are listed by manufacturers as safe," said Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology who led the study. "But our tests on mice clearly show that these chemicals adversely affect reproduction and associated development processes. The effects are likely to be the same in humans, in which case pregnant women would be particularly vulnerable to the effect of smoke from these cigarettes."

Talbot's research team used mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) as a model for pre-implantation embryos--embryos that have not yet implanted in the wall of the uterus--and compared the toxicity on these cells of cigarette smoke emanating from traditional and harm-reduction brands.

Further, they studied the effects on the mESCs of two kinds of cigarette smoke: mainstream smoke, which is smoke actively inhaled by smokers; and sidestream smoke, which is smoke that burns off the end of a cigarette.

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• Comparison of toxicity of smoke from traditional and harm-reduction cigarettes using mouse embryonic stem cells as a novel model for preimplantation development  

BACKGROUND: Embryonic stem cells (ESC), which originate from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, are valuable models for testing the effects of toxicants on preimplantation development. In this study, mouse ESC (mESC) were used to compare the toxicity of mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke on cell attachment, survival and proliferation. In addition, smoke from a traditional commercial cigarette was compared with smoke from three harm-reduction brands.

METHODS: MS and SS smoke solutions were made using an analytical smoking machine and tested at three doses using D3 mESC plated on 0.2% gelatin. At 6 and 24 h, images were taken and the number of attached cells was evaluated.

RESULTS: Both MS and SS smoke from traditional and harm-reduction cigarettes inhibited cell attachment, survival and proliferation dose dependently. For all brands, SS smoke was more potent than MS smoke. However, removal of the cigarette filter increased the toxicity of MS smoke to that of SS smoke. Both MS and SS smoke from harm-reduction cigarettes were as inhibitory, or more inhibitory, than their counterparts from the traditional brand. When preimplantation mouse embryos were cultured for 1 h in MS or SS smoke solutions from a harm-reduction brand, blastomeres became apoptotic, in agreement with the data obtained using mESC.

CONCLUSIONS: mESC provide a valuable model for toxicological studies on the preimplantation stage of development and were used to show that MS and SS smoke from traditional and harm-reduction cigarettes are detrimental to embryonic cells prior to implantation.

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• Associations Between Adult and Childhood Secondhand Smoke Exposures with Fecundity and Fetal Loss Among Women who Visited a Cancer Hospital 

METHODS: Approximately 4,800 women who presented to Roswell Park Cancer Institute between 1982 and 1998 and reported being pregnant at least once were queried about their childhood and adult exposures to SHS using a standardized questionnaire.

Women were asked to report on selected prenatal pregnancy outcomes (fetal loss and difficulty becoming pregnant).

RESULTS: Approximately 11.3% of women reported difficulty becoming pregnant, while 32% reported a fetal loss or 12.4% reported multiple fetal losses. Forty percent reported any prenatal pregnancy difficulty (fetal loss and/or difficulty becoming pregnant). SHS exposures from their parents were associated with difficulty becoming pregnant (OR=1.26, 95%CI 1.07-1.48) and lasting > 1 year (OR=1.34, 95%CI 1.12-1.60).

Exposure to SHS in both at home during childhood and at the time of survey completion was also associated with fetal loss . . .

The results from this study are consistent with results from a number of other studies that linked SHS exposure to various adverse pregnancy outcomes [3, 16-22]. Although one cannot infer from this study that exposure to SHS causes various adverse pregnancy outcomes, this study adds valuable evidence to the current scientific knowledge and demonstrates the imperative need for further research into this area. The significance of the associations between SHS exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes underscores the public health doctrine that all persons, especially women in their reproductive years, should be fully protected from tobacco smoke. Based on the current state of knowledge, clinicians are encouraged to strongly recommend smoking cessation and the reduction SHS exposure to women of child bearing age, and to their household contacts, in an attempt to minimize prenatal pregnancy difficulties.

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• Cutting the cord to determine babies' health risk from toxic exposure 

Now, in the first study of its kind, a team of researchers has completed a global assessment of newborns' umbilical cord blood to better understand the fetal health risks from smoking mothers. The research was led by Johns Hopkins University and included Rolf Halden, a researcher from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.

"Cigarette smoking is a massive onslaught on human physiology," said Halden, who works in the institute's Center for Environmental Biotechnology. Cigarette smoke is known to contain more than 4,000 chemicals, potentially affecting the health of a newborn baby on multiple levels, including low birth weight, premature delivery and small size for gestational age. The exact cause of these health effects continues to be the subject of investigation.

"Unfortunately, maternal cigarette smoking puts babies at risk of adverse birth outcomes and increases susceptibility to other diseases later in life," said Halden.

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The Influence of In Utero Exposure to Smoking on Sleep Patterns in Preterm Neonates  

Conclusions:

High prenatal smoking exposure modifies sleep patterns in preterm neonates by disrupting sleep organization and increasing nocturnal body movements. These findings raise the question of the repercussions of these sleep disturbances (at what is a critical stage in brain development) on the child's physiological and neurobehavioral outcomes.

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• High levels of prenatal smoking exposure affect sleep patterns in preterm neonates 

A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first to show that high levels of prenatal smoking exposure strongly modify sleep patterns in preterm neonates, which places infants at a higher risk for developmental difficulties that could persist throughout early and middle childhood.

Results indicate that preterm neonates born to heavy-smoking mothers who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day displayed disrupted sleep structure and sleep continuity. From 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. they slept almost two hours less than controls who were born to non-smoking mothers, and their sleep was more fragmented. Compared with controls, neonates born to both heavy and low smokers displayed more body movements and, as a result, more disturbed sleep.

Frederic Telliez, principal investigator, and professor of neuroscience at the University of Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens, France said that sleep integrity is critical in the brain development of neonates. Disruption of sleep mechanisms by prenatal smoking exposure may predispose neonates to alterations in some physiological function (such as ventilation) and can result in long-term neurocognitive disorders.

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