Effects of smoking and asthma in pregnant women

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with risk factors inclusive of intrinsic (genetic predisposition) and extrinsic variables (environmental exposures) in early life. Studies have postulated towards probable adverse effects on maternal and child health owing to asthmatic status of the mother and in utero exposure to smoke.The ELFE cohort aimed to describe the characteristics of asthmatic and smoking mothers and compare them to non smoking non asthmatic mothers.16,030 mothers and infants were enrolled from the general population in 2011. Interviews were conducted for collection of the variables. A descriptive analysis followed by a univariate analysis of asthmatic and smoker mothers was performed.Asthmatic women who smoked were younger (29.3 years vs 31.1 p<0.0001) and more likely to be threatened with preterm birth (11.4% vs 7.6% p=0.01). This group was also more likely to develop gestational hypertension (4.9% vs 3.6% p=0.007), experience gestational weight abnormalities (12.8% vs 6.1% p < 0.0001) and at a higher risk of receiving corticosteroids during pregnancy (8.4% vs 4.5% p < 0.0003). Male births were higher in this risk group (56.7% vs. 51.1%, p=0.03) with a higher proportion of children transferred to the neonatal ICU at birth (9.2% vs. 5.3%, p=0.003) owing to prematurity (66.7% vs 51.7 %, p=0.003). Apgar index of less than 7 at 1 minute was also a prominent feature (7.5% vs 4.5 %, p = 0.007) along with lower birth weight (3.2% vs 3.3 %, p< 0.0001) and small...
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Epidemiology Source Type: research