New Danger Linked to Smoking During Pregnancy
Reported March 9, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new study out of Spain reveals that smoking while pregnant is linked with increased chromosomal abnormalities in fetal cells, which may translate to an increased risk of cancer.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been proven to have many consequences on pregnancy including infertility, bleeding problems during the neonatal period, and obstetric complications such as extrauterine pregnancy, or pregnancy resulting from gestation elsewhere than in the uterus. However, background information in the study points out that only indirect data have been published concerning the possible effect of damaging DNA and causing genetic mutation, also known as the genotoxic effect, from smoking while pregnant.
To determine whether maternal smoking had a genotoxic effect on amniotic cells, researchers analyzed chromosomal instabilities and looked at whether any chromosomal regions are especially affected by exposure to tobacco. Cells in the amniotic fluid were obtained by routine amniocentesis in 25 controls and 25 women who smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day for 10 or more years. The women were asked to fill out a smoking questionnaire about their habits.
After comparing genetic data, researchers found the proportion of structural abnormalities in smokers was about 12 percent, whereas it was about 4 percent in non-smokers. They also found a certain chromosomal region was most affected by tobacco, which is a region that has been implicated in cancers related to the formation of blood or blood cells.
The study authors conclude that the increase in chromosomal abnormalities resulting from the genotoxic effect of tobacco could be indicative of an increased cancer risk, especially childhood cancers.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005;292:1212-1222