Table of Contents
Studies have linked cigarette smoking to many reproductive problems. Continuing to smoke during pregnancy can also cause health problems in the baby.
Negative effects of smoking include:
- Greater risk for infertility. Women at greatest risk for fertility problems are those who smoke one or more packs a day and who started smoking before age 18.
- Earlier menopause. Women who smoke tend to start menopause at an earlier age than nonsmokers, perhaps because toxins in cigarette smoke damage eggs.
- Pregnancy complications, which increase with the number of cigarettes smoked.
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Pregnancy complications that are more common in smokers include an increased chance of miscarriage and stillbirth, premature rupture of membranes, premature delivery, and problems with the placenta. Smoking further increases the risk to the mother and unborn child in high-risk pregnancies.
Effects on the Unborn Child. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for low birth weight. Women who smoke during pregnancy have lower levels of folate, a B vitamin that is important for preventing birth defects.
Children of mothers who smoke during pregnancy may also be at increased risk for obesity and diabetes.
Smoking during pregnancy seems to also increase the risk of having a baby with cleft lip (a split lip that has not closed during the fetus' development) or a neural tube defect.
Some women have particular genes that may make them especially likely to deliver low birth weight infants if they smoke, although newborns of all female smokers have a greater risk for low birth weight. The good news is that women who stop smoking before becoming pregnant or during their first trimester of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.
Women who want to become pregnant should make every attempt to stop smoking, and they should use smoking cessation aids before they try to conceive. Government guidelines recommend that doctors ask all of their pregnant patients about their tobacco use, and offer counseling to those patients who do smoke. After birth, if new mothers cannot quit, they should at least be sure not to smoke in the same room as their infant.
Effects on Bones and Joints
Smoking has many harmful effects on bones and joints:
- Smoking can slow the process that adds calcium to bones and makes them stronger. Women who smoke are at high risk for bone density loss and osteoporosis.
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Review Date: 09/08/2010
Reviewed By: Reviewed by: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor
of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts
General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical
Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
