Smoking While Pregnant, Baby Reveal Vulnerable Heart Disorders

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 Jakarta - Everyone knows that smoking is not a good habit, especially for pregnant women. A study revealed that pregnant women who smoke more likely to deliver infants with congenital heart disorders.

A recent study found that pregnant women who smoke in the first trimester, 20 percent to 70 percent more likely her baby will be born with congenital heart disorders. As quoted by the Times of India, congenital heart disorders are the most common types of birth defects and contribute about 30 percent of infant deaths from birth defects each year.

Research conducted U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in the journal Pediatrics, found an association between exposure to tobacco and some types of abnormalities in babies. Abnormalities such as, blood flow resistance from the right side of the heart to the lungs (right ventricle outflow tract resistance) and the openings between the top chamber of the heart (atria septal defect).

"Female smokers have to think to stop smoking and if they are declared pregnant then they must immediately stop the habit," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden.

"Successfully quit smoking during pregnancy can also reduce the likelihood of complications during pregnancysuch as premature birth and low weight babies at birth," says Adolfo Correa, media officer at the CDC.

This finding is based on the population of congenital heart disorders in the United States and found 2525cases of birth 3435 infants born from 1981 to 1989.