A recent study has found that the chances of a miscarriage rise sharply if a woman's partner smokes heavily during her pregnancy.

The joint US-Chinese study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that nearly 33% of women whose partners smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day lost their babies within six weeks of conceiving.

Smoking effected whether pregnancy continued to term
Previous research into the effect of passive smoking on pregnancy has produced inconclusive results. This latest study focused on 526 Chinese textile workers who were newly married. It found that whether or not a woman's partner smoked had little difference on the likelihood of conception. But it did seem to have a significant effect on whether the pregnancy continued past the early weeks if the partner smoked 20 or more cigarettes a day.

In all, 84% of the women whose husbands did not smoke eventually became pregnant and gave birth. Among those whose partners did smoke the rate was 76%.

May damage sperm
The scientists believe that smoking could cause damage to the chromosomes in sperm. In addition, exposure to tobacco smoke breathed in by a pregnant woman may endanger the developing fetus by affecting levels of female sex hormones, or by reducing blood flow through the placenta.


Reference:

1. S. A. Venners; Chen, C., Chen, D., Guang, W., Huang, A., Lasley, B., O’Connor, J., Overstreet, J., Ryan, L., Wang, L., Wang, X., Wilcox, A., Xu, X., “Paternal Smoking and Pregnancy Loss: A Prospective Study Using a Biomarker of Pregnancy,” American Journal of Epidemiology, 2004: 159: 993-1001.


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