Mom's smoking linked to birth defects -- study

According to researchers, women who smoke while pregnant are more likely to have infants with birth malformations such as cleft lip, cleft palate, clubfoot, limb defects, heart problems, gastroschisis (an opening in the muscles of the abdomen that allows the intestines to appear outside the body), and imperforate anus.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Allan Hackshaw, deputy director of the University College London Cancer Center in the UK, stated, "There's still this idea among some women that if you smoke the baby will be small and that will make it easier when it comes to the delivery.

"But what is not appreciated is that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of defects in the child that are life-long."

172 studies reviewed
In order to determine the impact of smoking on the fetus, the researchers conducted a systematic review of medical literature over the last 50 years.

The focus of the study was to establish a link between maternal smoking and higher incidence of birth defects in the fetus.

They zeroed in on 172 reports that involved 173,687 infants born with birth defects and 11,674,332 healthy births.

An analysis found the risk of having a baby with defects, like missing limbs, cleft lips and cleft palates, abnormally shaped heads or faces, was 20 to 30 percent higher in women who smoked while pregnant as opposed to those did not light up.

Hackshaw stated, "These defects last a lifetime. They can be fixed to some extent, but they're visible on the baby and infants and more or less for life."

Some other findings
In addition, the review found, the odds of gastrointestinal abnormalities, including problems with the throat, esophagus, colon, intestine, bile ducts, gall bladder, and liver were 27 percent higher in kids born to smoker mothers.

Moreover, maternal smoking was associated with a 50 percent higher risk of infants born with defects such as gastroschisis while the danger of a blocked or closed anus was 20 percent elevated.

Additionally, smoking was linked to nine percent heart defects and in 13 percent cases of baby boys born with undescended testes.

Professor Hackshaw stated, “Now we have this evidence, advice should be more explicit about the kinds of serious defects such as deformed limbs, and facial and gastrointestinal malformations that babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy could suffer from.

"The message from this research is that women should quit smoking before becoming pregnant, or very early on, to reduce the chance of having a baby with a serious and lifelong physical defect."

The study is published in 'Human Reproduction Update.'