Categories
· Secondhand Smoke
· Pregnancy
· Cardio-vascular
non-USA, by Country
· Denmark
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Tobacco use narrows blood vessels to fetus, study finds
Jump to full article: HealthDay [HealthScout], 2009-02-02
Intro: A mechanism linking smoking during pregnancy to low birth weight has been identified by Danish researchers.
They found that smoking during pregnancy lowers production of an enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which regulates blood vessel dilation. Reduced production of eNOS causes narrowing of blood vessels and less blood flow to the fetus, resulting in lower birth weight, shorter length and smaller head circumference.
But the researchers also found that if women quit smoking early in pregnancy, eNOS levels return to normal, and infants are born at normal birth weight. The findings were published in the Feb. 2 online issue of Circulation.
"This study in one of the first to show a biochemical measurement of what is going on to cause the lower birth weight," said study author Malene Rohr Andersen, project manager of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at Gentofte University Hospital.
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