Smoking Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Smoking, including details on cigarettes, cancer, lung, tar, nicotine.

Fetal behavior in smoking compared to non-smoking pregnant women.

Cowperthwaite B, Hains SM, Kisilevsky BS

Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of maternal smoking on fetal spontaneous behavior and auditory processing. METHODS: 38 fetuses of smoking (n=18) and non-smoking (n=20) mothers, stratified by gestational age (<37, >or=37 weeks GA), were examined at least 1h following smoking. Observations included spontaneous fetal heart rate (FHR; 20 min) and body movements (20 min) followed by a 2 min audiotape of the mother reading a story while FHR and body movements were recorded. RESULTS: There were no differences in spontaneous behaviors; full-term fetuses showed a FHR acceleration and body movement during the mother's voice. A FHR response following voice offset was limited to fetuses less than 37 weeks GA of non-smoking mothers. CONCLUSION: Fetuses less than 37 weeks GA of mothers who smoke throughout pregnancy have a delayed onset of response to the maternal voice, a subtle difference which may have implications for later language development for prematurely born infants which needs further investigation.

Published 8 August 2007 in Infant Behav Dev, 30(3): 422-30.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2006-2008 Smoking Research Today. All Rights Reserved.