Smoking is injurious to health, especially when you are pregnant.
Exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of asthma in childhood, it was found earlier also. But now a study says that smoking by pregnant women can increase the risk of asthma by 1.5 times, when they are at the ages between 31 and 46.
The study involved 5,200 individuals born in Northern Finland in 1966. The mother’s smoking during pregnancy resulted in an approximately 1.5-fold asthma risk in the child at the ages between 31 and 46. The risk was higher for those who had reported suffering from respiratory symptoms previously or who were carriers of the RUNX-1 susceptibility gene.
“The findings may point to the early vulnerability of the airways and permanent harm caused by cigarettes,” says Docent Sanna Toppila-Salmi from the University of Helsinki and the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.
The study was carried out collaboratively by the University of Helsinki, the University of Oulu and the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
The researchers have strongly advised the women and mothers-to-be to refrain from smoking which will affect the children in many ways, including getting asthma at a later stage.
