2010-02-06

- New research suggests that mothers who smoke during pregnancy may damage their babies' ability to control their blood pressure effectively.

● Scientists at Sweden's Karolinska Institute analysed 17 babies whose mothers had smoked during pregnancy and a further 19 who had not been exposed to tobacco smoke in the womb.

● They found that one-week-old babies of non-smokers experienced a two per cent increase in blood pressure when tilted upright during sleep, while one-year-old babies experienced a ten per cent rise.
However, this trend was reversed in babies born to smokers, indicating that their ability to regulate blood pressure had been affected.

● Lead author Dr Gary Cohen, whose findings are published in Hypertension - Journal of the American Heart Association, commented: 'Babies of smokers have evidence of persistent problems in blood pressure regulation that start at birth and get worse over time.

● Persistent high blood pressure, or 'hypertension', can be serious as it places extra strain on the heart and blood vessels.
In the long term, it can cause heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, some forms of dementia and kidney disease.

- 'This study reveals for the first time that early-life exposure to tobacco can lead to long-lasting reprogramming of infant blood pressure control mechanisms.'