Smoking During Pregnancy May Damage Children's Blood Vessels

Yet Another Reason Not to Smoke During Pregnancy

By Rita Rubin
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Dec. 26, 2011 -- If women didn’t already have enough reasons to quit smoking before pregnancy, here’s a big one: Smoking during pregnancy may set their child up for blood vessel damage, a new study shows.

Dutch scientists enrolled more than 250 children. When the children were 4 weeks old, their body dimensions and lung function were measured. At the same time, their parents completed questionnaires about such factors as smoking during pregnancy.

When the children were 5, the researchers used ultrasound to measure the thickness and flexibility of their carotid arteries, large blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to thebrain. They also collected updated smoking information from their parents./.../