By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
MONDAY, January 30, 2023 (HealthDay News). Infants who are exposed to maternal smoking during pregnancy are five times more likely than non-smokers to die unintentionally, according to a new study.
“The message is simple. Smoking significantly increases the risk of sudden infant death,” Barbara Ostfeld, lead author of the SIDS Center of New Jersey study and professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School New Brunswick, N.J.
Ostfeld stated in a school press release that “everyone who wants to get pregnant has an extremely important reason to stop.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 3,400 unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) are reported each year in the United States. These deaths typically occur within the infant’s first year. These deaths can be attributed to sudden infant mortality syndrome (SIDS), or those that are not immediately apparent.
Rutgers analysed SUID among infants born in the United States. This included more than 3.3 Million births to white mothers and more that 857,000 births for Black mothers.
Researchers used birth and deaths records from the CDC that were kept for 2012-2013 for infants who were born between 24 weeks and 42 week gestation. These records also included SUID cases, in which an infant died following hospital discharge and an autopsy.
According to the study, while a lower percentage of Black mothers reported smoking than their white counterparts, the risk of developing SUID increased with time and exposure for both races.
Researchers found that the SUID rate for infants born to white mothers without ever smoking was 0.34 for every 1,000 live births, while it was 2.33 for infants born to steady smokers.
About 16% white mothers of surviving infants smoked before or during pregnancy. However, about 50% of white mothers of SUID victims smoked.
Black women who had never smoked were at 1.07 deaths per 1,000 live-births. It was 3.80 for infants born of mothers who smoked all through pregnancy.
About 10% of Black mothers who survived their babies smoked during or before pregnancy, compared with nearly 25% of mothers who lost their babies to SUID.
78% of smokers whose infants died from SUID were white while 67% were Black.
“Given the strong link between smoking and SUID it was concerning that most people in either racial groups who had been smokers throughout the pregnancy,” stated Dr. Thomas Hegyi (study co-author) and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School professor.
Hegyi stated in the release that “this finding underscores how difficult smokers have quitting” and suggested that there was a need for effective strategies as well as better access.
More information on SIDS and SUID is available at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medicine School, news release Jan. 27, 2023
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