Pregnancy and Tobacco

Mothers using an anti-smoking patch to quit smoking during pregnancy take risks to future children. The study, conducted on animals shows that exposure to nicotine in uterus can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems later in life. Conclusions are also confirmed on Man, published in the July 21 edition of the British Journal of Pharmacology.

The rat study examined how exposure to nicotine in the womb affects the aorta. Its results should be interpreted with caution for humans because the levels of nicotine used in this experiment are not necessarily comparable to levels observed in women using nicotine patches or gums.

It is clear that nicotine can have undesirable effects on the fetus. The harmful effects of smoking are known to both mother and child. The question is, if the use of nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy and in the perspective of smoking cessation in the longer term, much preferable to the possible adverse effects of substitutes on the fetus. The study by researchers at Loma Linda University School of Medicine and the University of California, report that observational studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy is associated with higher blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in the offspring to adulthood. Previous experiments in rats indicate that prenatal exposure to nicotine has an effect on blood vessels, making them more susceptible to blood pressure. The researchers implanted small pumps under the skin of pregnant rats providing continuous nicotine (in 12 rats) or saline (in 13 rats) throughout pregnancy. The researchers point out that the dose of nicotine received by the rats was similar to the dose in the blood of a moderate smoker.

The nicotine exposure in uterus causes changes in blood vessels when the little rats are born and at the age of five months, the researchers compared the blood vessels in the male offspring (exposed to nicotine). The researchers found that the aortas of male rats exposed to nicotine contract more strongly in response to angiotensin than in male control rats not exposed to nicotine. They conclude that exposure to nicotine in uterus causes changes in blood vessels that support an increased risk of hypertension in the offspring in adulthood.

Free nicotine replacement therapy is better! Finally, if women trying to quit smoking during pregnancy can be done without replacement therapy, it avoids any potential risks associated with nicotine. But if pregnant women need a nicotine substitute, in light of their findings, the researchers confirmed that the long-term benefits of smoking cessation are likely to outweigh the risks of smoking during pregnancy and after. The benefits and risks of therapy nicotine replacement should be discussed with pregnant women who smoke. The authors add that pregnant women should remove their off nicotine patches before going to bed.

Posted in: Pregnancy