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Babies born to smoking mums find it harder to rouse from sleep, say Australian researchers who have probed the link between cigarettes and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The Melbourne-based study found babies in homes where the mother smoked up to 20 cigarettes daily, during and after the pregnancy, performed poorer on arousal tests.
Associate Professor Rosemary Horne said the research shed new light on why smoking was emerging as a leading SIDS cause.
"With maternal smoking, even though these babies appeared perfectly well and healthy and normal, they did not have the same arousal patterns as those babies whose mums didn't smoke," said Prof Horne, scientific director of the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research at Monash University.
"They wake up less, and more of the arousals they do have don't go right up to the cortex, so they don't wake up." , , ,''
Prof Horne's study is published in the journal SLEEP.
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Smoking by mothers has replaced infants sleeping on their stomachs as the greatest modifiable risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, Australian researchers suggest.
They found that when mothers smoke, the sleep arousal process of infants, which awakens them in response to a life-threatening situation, is altered, increasing the risk for SIDS.
The study included 12 healthy, full-term infants born to mothers who smoked an average of 15 cigarettes a day. . . .
"Our study suggests that maternal smoking can impair the arousal pathways of seemingly normal infants, which may explain their increased risk for SIDS," Horne said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
The study is in the April 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function.
"Smoking during pregnancy is a double-edged sword with respect to SIDS," said Shabih Hasan, M.D., a staff neonatologist and professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the principal investigator of the new study. "Not only does it raise a mother's likelihood of having a preterm baby, who is already among the most vulnerable to SIDS, but it increases the infant's susceptibility to SIDS even further."
The research will be published in the first issue for September of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Babies born prematurely to women who smoked during their pregnancy may be at higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than premature infants born to nonsmoking moms, new research suggests.
The Canadian study is the first to compare the breathing reflexes of "preemies" born to smokers versus nonsmokers. The researchers found that these tiny babies were more likely to have impaired recovery from pauses in breathing if their mother had smoked during her pregnancy.
"Our study shows that preterm infants make incomplete and/or delayed recovery from interruptions in breathing," study author and neonatologist Dr. Shabih Hasan, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, said in an American Thoracic Society news release. "This has clear implications for their risk of SIDS."
The study, published in the first issue for September of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, involved 22 infants born spontaneously between 28 and 32 weeks of gestation
Prenatal cigarette smoke exposure, the main risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), has an adverse effect on spontaneous recovery of breathing pauses and oxygen saturation during hypoxemia in preterm infants, researchers report.
Preterm infants are among the most vulnerable groups for SIDS, but the effects of prenatal cigarette smoke exposure and hypoxemia on their cardio-respiratory control have not been investigated, explain Shabih Hasan and colleagues from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
A new study provides the most direct evidence that there exists a causal link between smoking during pregnancy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Clinicians have long considered prenatal cigarette smoke exposure a major contributing risk factor for SIDS, but researchers had not proved a casual relationship. Other contributing factors include disturbances of breathing and heart rate regulation and impaired arousal responses, thermal stress (primarily overheating from too high temperatures or too much clothing) and sleeping in the prone (belly-down) position.
"Since the advocacy of 'back to sleep position,' smoking during pregnancy has become the principal risk factor for SIDS," said Dr. Shabih Hasan, staff neonatologist and associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the principal investigator of the new study, which appears in the first issue for June of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society.
The parents of a baby boy who died in his cot have been told by a pathologist that their smoking habits may have been a major factor.
At an inquest at Tameside Coroner's Court, Melanie Newbould, a pathologist, said that she could not be sure why Jake Dunning, seven weeks old, had died but that passive smoking may have played a part.
The evidence follows a study, published this week, that suggests a clear link between passive smoking and cot death. . . .
Jake's mother and father, Ryan Dunning, both in their twenties, were distraught about the findings.
Nine out of 10 mothers whose babies suffered cot death smoked during pregnancy, according to a scientific study to be published this week. The study, thought to be one of the most authoritative to date on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), says women who smoke during pregnancy are four times more likely than non-smokers to see their child fall victim to cot death.
The comprehensive report will make a strong case for the Government to increase the scope of anti-smoking legislation. It even suggests a possible move to try to ban pregnant women from getting tobacco altogether.
The study, produced by Bristol University's Institute of Child Life and Health, is based on analysis of the evidence of 21 international studies on smoking and cot death. The report, co-authored by Peter Fleming, professor of infant health and developmental physiology, and Dr Peter Blair, senior research fellow, will be published this week in the medical journal Early Human Development.
The report urges the Government "to emphasise the adverse effects of tobacco smoke exposure to infants and among pregnant women". It also warns that this year's ban on smoking in public places must not result in an increased exposure of infants or pregnant woman at home - smoking in their presence should be seen as being "anti-social, potentially dangerous, and unacceptable".
The study points out that many mothers and mothers-to-be have not heeded warnings about smoking and may need to have their access to tobacco restricted. . . .
Scientists are working to the theory that exposure to smoke during the pregnancy or just after birth has an effect on brain chemicals in the foetus or in infants, increasing the risk of SIDS.
Exposure to tobacco smoke, either prenatally or postnatally, will lead to a complex range of effects upon normal physiological and anatomical development in foetal and postnatal life, together with an increased incidence of acute viral infection that places infants at greatly increased risk of SIDS.Study produced by Bristol University's Institute of Child Life and Health, which is based on analysis of the evidence of 21 international studies on smoking and cot death.
Around 300 babies a year die of cot death, usually between the ages of one and four months
Smoking is to blame for up to 90 per cent of cot deaths, according to a major new study.
Scientists have found that nine out of 10 victims of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) had mothers who smoked during pregnancy.
And they will warn that mothers-to-be who smoke are four times more likely to see their child die from cot death than non smokers.
The report, from Bristol University's institute of child life and health published later this week, calls on the Government to ban expectant women from buying tobacco.
More than 17,000 children under the age of five are admitted to hospitals every year because of respiratory illness caused by exposure to second-hand smoke, a conference has heard.
It is also estimated that half of all children in the UK are exposed to second-hand smoke in the home.
The figures were revealed at the Annual Meeting of the Scottish Tobacco Control Alliance (STCA) taking place in Glasgow.
The event has brought Health Promotion, Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Control professionals together to discuss progress on reducing the impact of tobacco on Scotland's health, with this year's theme being Smoke-Free Homes.
YOUNG mum Jessica Davies was devastated when she woke one morning to find her five-month-old baby dead in her cot. But her anguish only deepened when a coroner's report suggested her smoking habit may have contributed to the child's death.
Here, the 18-year-old, from Stroud, Gloucs, describes her struggle with guilt and grief...
the coroner dropped a bombshell.
He confirmed Dylan had died of SIDS - and smoking was a known risk factor.
I froze - was it my fault? True, I'd had around six a day while pregnant, but I'd never smoked in front of the boys. Could the smoke have wafted through the flat? . . .
Almost everyone I knew smoked. It had never entered my head that it could be so dangerous for babies. . . .
There was a chance my smoking had nothing to do with his death. I had to cling to that. Now I've banned smoking from my home and I'm encouraging all my friends to do the same. If there's even the smallest risk to a child, then it's just not worth it.
A "Baby Health Tax" should be levied to add 50 cents to the cost of every packet of cigarettes sold in Australia, says the lobby group for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The National Sids Council of Australia will call on the Federal government to introduce the levy, and chairman Jennie Cameron points to Tasmanian-based research showing a high number of smoking mums-to-be.
"Research shows that at least 20 per cent of mothers continue to smoke whilst pregnant, and that they place their unborn child at three to four times more risk of dying from SIDS," Ms Cameron says.
"The dangers of smoking to unborn babies should be a national health priority."
Conclusions. PM executives responded to corporate concerns about the possible adverse effects of SHS on maternal and child health by commissioning consultants to write review articles for publication in the medical literature. PM executives successfully encouraged one author to change his original conclusion that SHS is an independent risk factor for SIDS to state that the role of SHS is "less well established." These statements are consistent with PM's corporate position that active smoking causes disease but only public health officials conclude the same for SHS. The author's disclosure of industry funding did not reveal the full extent of PM's involvement in shaping the content of the article. This analysis suggests that accepting tobacco industry funds can disrupt the integrity of the scientific process. . . .
The background of this SIDS review is relevant for institutions engaged in the debate about accepting or eschewing funding from the tobacco industry. Those who support acceptance of tobacco industry funds argue that academic authors retain the right to publish their work and maintain final approval of the written product, but this argument fails to recognize that the tobacco industry funds work to ensure that messages favorable to the industry are published and disseminated.
Clinicians, parents, and public health officials are most vulnerable to the changed conclusions of the SIDS review. The national SIDS "Back to Sleep" campaign has been very successful in reducing SIDS rates. However, estimates of SIDS risk from SHS (odds ratios range from 1.4 to 5.1) have considerable overlap with estimates of risk from prone sleep positioning (odds ratios range from 1.7 to 12.9). With the Back to Sleep campaign well underway, efforts to address parental smoking behavior in both the prenatal and postnatal periods should be intensified. The tobacco industry's disinformation campaign on SHS and maternal and child health can be counteracted within clinicians' offices.
Several studies have shown smoking around a baby can be a trigger. One study, however, claims it isn't.
Sounds confusing until you find out who paid for the study. . . .
One question research has answered is that secondhand smoke increases a baby's risk for SIDS. But a recent review found no link between the two. That finding raised the suspicion of Stanton Glantz, Director of the Center of Tobacco Control. He says tobacco giant Philip Morris paid for the study, and author Frank Sullivan changed the wording of the final draft.
"We found the original draft of the scientific paper, which said, 'secondhand smoke increases the risk of sudden infant death,' in Phillip Morris's corporate files along with their suggestions to Sullivan to change it," says Dr. Glantz.
Glantz says the line "smoking is an an important independent risk factor for SIDS" became "maternal smoking is an important risk factor", suggesting it was safe for others to smoke around babies. Phillip Morris defended itself by stating Sullivan had been quote "entirely free to publish his review without including our comments and without restriction."
"What Phillip Morris is doing here is a tremendous disservice to parents and to infants because it's increasing the risk infants will die."
Parents who smoke are being urged not to share a bed with their baby after a survey found many did not know this raises the risk of cot death.
The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths found a third of 428 parents polled had shared a bed with a baby.
In a campaign, it will be highlighting the higher risk of cot death associated with smokers sleeping with their baby, even if they do not smoke in bed. . .
In fact, it makes no difference where or when they smoke - if a smoker bedshares with a baby it increases the risk of cot death even if they never smoke in bed.
This is because children of smokers tend to be smaller, and to have damage to their respiratory system, and so are vulnerable to the tiny risk associated with bedsharing, which is so small that it is not a factor for more robust babies.