United Kingdom: A new study has found that smoking during pregnancy is nearly three times more likely to cause premature birth in women compared with non-smokers. The study also found no evidence that above-average caffeine intake throughout pregnancy is linked to preterm birth or smaller babies.
The study by Cambridge academics found that women who smoked during pregnancy were nearly three times more likely to give birth prematurely compared with women who are non-smokers, which is more than double the previous estimate. Additionally, it was found that babies born to mothers who smoked were four times more likely to be small for their gestational age. This will eventually put them at risk of serious complications, including breathing difficulties and infections.
The research, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, analysed metabolites from smoking (cotinine) and caffeine (paraxanthine) in the blood samples of more than 900 women who took part in the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction study between 2008 and 2012.
The research team calculated levels of cotinine and paraxanthine found in the blood at 12, 20, 28, and 36 weeks of pregnancy, as well as classified the women’s exposure to smoking and caffeine consumption accordingly.
Prof. Gordon Smith, the head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Cambridge, commented that “we have known for a long time that smoking during pregnancy is not good for the baby, but our study shows that it’s potentially much worse than previously thought. It puts the baby at risk of potentially serious complications from growing too slowly in the womb or from being born too soon.”
Prof. Smith further added that “we only studied women who consistently had above-average levels of caffeine metabolites. We did not study women who had an extremely high caffeine intake. Hence, we would not interpret our findings as indicating that current recommendations around caffeine intake should be changed.”
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