Scans Show How Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Unborn Babies

Lisa Franchi March 24, 2015

We know that smoking is highly dangerous for our health. But how serious are its effects especially among pregnant women?

Smoking during pregnancy poses plenty of health risks not just to the mother but also to her unborn child. In a pilot study by Durham and Lancaster universities, it was found that foetuses whose mothers were smokers showed a significantly higher rate of mouth movements than the normal declining rate of movements expected in a foetus during pregnancy.

Researchers said the reason for this might be that the foetal central nervous system, which controls movements in general and facial movements, did not develop in the same manner as that in the foetuses of mothers who didn’t smoke during pregnancy.

For the study, researchers compared 80 4-d ultrasound scans of 20 foetuses to assess their facial and mouth movements. Scans were taken at different intervals between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. Four of the pregnant mums in the study smoked an average of 14 cigarettes per day, whist the rest didn’t have a single cigarette.

All foetuses were clinically assessed and healthy when born.

"Our findings concur with others that stress and depression have a significant impact on foetal movements, and need to be controlled for, but additionally these results point to the fact that nicotine exposure per se has an effect on foetal development over and above the effects of stress and depression.” says Dr Nadja Reissland, from Durham University’s Department of Psychology, the lead author of the study.

The researchers also found reduction of facial touching by foetuses whose mothers smoked, although the reduction was less significant.

They say further research is needed to confirm their findings and learn more about specific effects, including the interaction between maternal stress and smoking.

The study was published in the journal Acta Paediatrica.