Infant brain injury 'caused by mothers who smoke'RSS Feed

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy could be causing brain injury to their unborn children, new findings show.

Babies of mothers who smoke are more at risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids), which could be due to smoking affecting development of the brain, according to researchers.

Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio found that prenatal exposure to nicotine could affect the development of brain centres that regulate breathing.

Exposure to cigarette smoke before birth puts babies at a two-fold increased risk of Sids when the mother is a moderate smoker and a five-fold increased risk if the mother is a heavy smoker, said the study published in the journal of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology.

Infants of mothers who smoked during pregnancy experienced more instances of infant apnea and did not wake from sleep due to lack of oxygen as easily as those whose mothers did not smoke.

Meanwhile, research by the University of Exeter found that traumatic brain injury is far more common among youth offenders than across the general population.

News brought to you by Serious Law specialists in traumatic brain injury

Posted by Timothy Walters
 

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