smoking during pregnancy

Adelaide, Australia, March 28: Quitting smoking early enough in pregnancy can reduce a pregnant woman’s risk of premature birth, a new research suggests.

It is known that smoking during pregnancy increases a woman's risk of having a baby with a range of birth defects, including a premature birth and low birth weight.

Now, researchers claim the aforesaid effects on newborns can be reduced if a woman stops smoking before the 15th week of pregnancy.

Melbourne, Australia, January 12: Babies born to smoking mothers are up to five times more likely to develop childhood cancers, a new Australian research warns.

While birth complications like, premature delivery and low birth weight are already well associated with smoking during pregnancy, the research embarked at Australia's New South Wales Cancerdefine Institute found that life-threatening cancers like leukemia (cancer of the blood or bone marrow), cancer of the brain or central nervous system, kidney and eye cancers were common in children, whose mothers smoked during pregnancy.