Warning: smoking in the early pregnancy can cause heart defects in infants
US Centers for Disease Control and prevention reported that pregnant women who smoke at the early stage of pregnancy will significantly increase the risk of partial congenital heart defects in the newborn.
US CDC researchers analyzed data from a large case control study that found that the risk of heart defects such as right ventricular outflow tract obstruction and atrial septal defect in infants born in early pregnancy was 20% to 70% higher than that of non smoking women.
congenital heart defect is one of the most common physiological defects of newborns. The US CDC researchers reckon that the United States will reduce 100 cases of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction and 700 cases of atrial septal defect each year if women quit smoking before pregnancy and in the early pregnancy.
Thomas Frieden, director of the center for Disease Control and prevention of the United States, said: "smoking cessation is the most important means to improve the health of women and newborns." He also said that women who have habit of smoking need to quit smoking if they consider pregnancy. If they are pregnant, they should stop smoking immediately.