When it comes to the effects of smoking, the most delicate time for a child's genetic development is before birth.
A new study found that exposure to tobacco smoke in utero was far more likely to cause severe asthma than exposure during the first two years of life. Children suffering with severe asthma were more than three times more likely to have been exposed to smoke before birth than kids with milder forms of the disease.
The study, to be released in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics, sought to find when tobaccco smoke exposure had the greatest consequences: before birth, from birth to age 2, or at the moment of the child's symptoms. The only factor that actually had an impact of the severity of a child's asthma was whether the mother smoked during pregnancy.
Nationwide, the annual cost of asthma is estimated at about $56 billion in premature deaths, health care costs and missed work and school days.
Sadly, nearly 14% of American women continue to smoke thoughout pregnancy.
Full article can be read here:
http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/quality-of-life/asthma-smoking-pregnant-study-deep-link/
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