Smoking During Pregnancy Can Cause Psychosis In Children
Posted on: Thursday, 1 October 2009, 11:15 CDT
British scientists said on Thursday that mothers who smoke during pregnancy put their children at greater risk of developing psychotic symptoms as teenagers, Reuters reported.
Studies carried out by four British universities looked at 6,356 12-year-olds -– of which around 19 percent had mothers who smoked during pregnancy -- and interviewed them for psychotic-like symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.
The researchers found that just over 11 percent, or 734 of the total group, had suspected or definite symptoms of psychosis.
Studies in the past have shown that cigarettes can harm the fetuses of mothers who smoke while pregnant. Some of the risks include babies being born smaller and an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome or heart problems.
The more the mothers smoked, the more likely their children were to have psychotic symptoms, according to study leader Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University's School of Medicine.
He suggests an estimated 20 percent of adolescents in this cohort would not have developed psychotic symptoms if their mothers had abstained from smoking.
Experts say between 15 and 20 percent of women in Britain smoke during pregnancy, despite countless studies warning about risks to babies.
Drinking during pregnancy was also associated with increased psychotic symptoms, but only in children whose mothers consumed more than 21 units of alcohol a week in early pregnancy, researchers said.
Zammit and colleagues noted that the reasons for the link between maternal smoking and psychotic symptoms are not clear, but the team suggests that exposure to tobacco in the womb might affect a child's impulsivity, attention or cognition.
Additional studies would need to be carried out to investigate how exposure to tobacco in the womb affected children's brains.
Some mothers in the study admitted to also smoking cannabis during pregnancy, but it was not found to have any significant link with psychotic symptoms.
The full study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
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Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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User Comments (2)
| 2. |
Posted by Susan on 10/14/2009, 10:12 mothers who smoke while pregnant are being selfish and not caring about their child. they dont even deserve to be a mother if they are going to put their child into that kind of dangers and risks. |
| 1. |
Posted by lonelyguyatdharan on 10/02/2009, 05:46 i dont thik its true it can be also becose of smoking habit of father or both. |
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