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A study in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology found children of mother who smoke throughout pregnancy may have smaller total brain volumes and exhibit more emotional problems, such as depressive symptoms and anxiety.
Dr Simon Newell, Vice President for Training and Assessment for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said:
“In the last few years we have learned so much more about how smoking during pregnancy affects a child’s brain development. This new study is welcome and gives clinicians and expectant parents, a better understanding of the effect smoking can have on an unborn baby.
“This study used MRI to scan the brain in over 200 children aged 6-8years and looked at their emotional wellbeing. The babies whose mothers kept smoking in pregnancy had smaller brains. The children exposed during pregnancy also displayed more emotional problems, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety. What was striking about this study was the alarming effect smoking had on the brain over six years later.
“More than 5,000 babies each year are miscarried as a result of smoking, while thousands more are born with serious, yet entirely preventable illnesses such as respiratory problems and ear, nose and throat conditions. This study adds to the conviction of our College’s recommendation for mums-to-be to not smoke at all during pregnancy.
“And what’s equally as concerning is that three quarters of expectant mothers in this study continued to smoke after discovering they were pregnant, highlighting the need for better education and support for these mothers in order to improve health outcomes for children.”
‘Prenatal tobacco exposure and brain morphology: a prospective study in young children’ by El Marroun et al., published in Neuropsychopharmacology on Monday 7th October.