Smoking Tied to Serious Pregnancy Condition

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of placentalabruption, a potentially life-threatening condition for both the mother and fetus.

With placental abruption, the placenta detaches from the uterus wall priorto birth, resulting in severe bleeding. Depending on the degree ofdetachment, up to 40 percent of affected infants die.

Dr. Cande V. Ananth, from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NewBrunswick, New Jersey, and Dr. Sven Cnattingius, from the KarolinskaInstitute in Stockholm, investigated whether the effect of maternal smokingon abruption risk is restricted to the pregnancy during which the mothersmokes or whether subsequent pregnancies may be affected as well.

According to the findings, smoking during pregnancy raised the risk ofabruption during that pregnancy but seemed to have little impact on the riskin future pregnancies.

Regardless of smoking status, having one abruption greatly increased therisk of another abruption. In women with a prior abruption, the likelihoodof having another was increased 5.3-fold for nonsmokers and 10.9-fold forsmokers compared with women with no history of abruption.

These findings further reinforce the message that women should reducesmoking during pregnancy. [Am J of Epid]