Women Frequently Smoke Inhalation Vulnerable miscarriage
Women who breathe in cigarette smoke are in an increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, or other complications, a study suggests. The study found that the longer women affected by exposure to cigarette smoke, the greater the risk.
Smoke and Pregnancy Complications
Researchers led by Andrew Hyland of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, to analyze the data more than 80 thousand postmenopausal women who have taken part of a research landmark Women's Health Initiative.
All the women had been pregnant at least once. From all these women, 6.3 percent had ever smoked, 43 percent were former smokers, and about 51 percent is not a smoker. The research team assess how much smoke is inhaled by passive smokers, especially women, both at home and in the workplace.
Almost one in three participants had experienced at least one miscarriage. Of all women, 4.4 percent of stillbirth and 2.5 per cent have undergone tubal ectopic pregnancy, where the fertilized egg attaches outside the uterus.
Compared with women who never smoked, women who formerly smoked many years during their reproductive years are 16 percent more likely to have a miscarriage, 44 percent more likely to have a child stillborn, and 43 percent more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy.
The study authors noted that there is also a relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and pregnancy complications in women who have never smoked. The longer smoke exposed to cigarette smoke, the greater the risk.
The research team also focused on women with the highest levels of exposure to cigarette acid lifetime. It also includes women who spent more than 10 years of exposure to tobacco smoke as a child, more than 10 years as an adult working in a smoke-filled environment, or more than 20 years as adults are exposed to smoke at home.
These women are 17 percent more likely to have a miscarriage, 55 percent more likely to experience stillbirth and 61 percent more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy, compared with women who were not exposed to smoke.
Women who are younger and educated at risk are less likely to experience pregnancy complications than black women and people of other ethnic minorities, and women who are overweight.
While the study was able to demonstrate the relationship between secondhand smoke and pregnancy complications, but it does not show causation.
