Researchers smoking during pregnancy promotes schizophrenia in the child

Nicotine exposure before birth affects the mental health of children
Most women are aware that smoking during pregnancy can present risks to the unborn child. Nevertheless, according to experts, 12 to 25 percent of women in Europe and the USA also smoke during pregnancy. In a recent study, a research team led by Professor Alan Brown of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York has proven that this also endangers the mental health of the offspring. Later in life, children developed schizophrenia significantly more often when their mothers had smoked during pregnancy.

In the current study, the scientists investigated the relationship between prenatal nicotine exposure and schizophrenia in offspring. They found that the high risk of nicotine consumption of pregnant women increases the risk of later schizophrenia in children by up to 38 percent. Smoking pregnant women are therefore a massive threat to the mental health of their children. The results of the study were published in the journal "American Journal of Psychiatry".

Smoking during pregnancy endangers the mental health of the offspring. The risk of schizophrenia is significantly increased by prenatal nicotine exposure. (Image: wong yu liang / fotolia.com)

Prenatal nicotine exposure checked
For their investigations, the researchers used the data from a Finnish population-based study, which recorded all essential data of live births in Finland between 1983 and 1998. Here, 977 cases of schizophrenia were identified in the offspring. On the basis of the maternal serum samples also available, the researchers examined possible associations between the risk of schizophrenia and the nicotine exposure (measured by the cotinine level in the serum)..

Schizophrenia risk increased by 38 percent
The scientists were able to show that an elevated maternal cotinine level was associated with an increased rate of schizophrenia. "Severe maternal nicotine exposure has been linked to a 38 percent increase in the rate of schizophrenia," write Prof. Brown and colleagues. These findings were independent of maternal age, maternal or parental mental disorders, socioeconomic status, and other variables.

Avoiding smoking could reduce the incidence of schizophrenia
The current study, according to the researchers, "provides definitive evidence that smoking during pregnancy is associated with schizophrenia." Conversely, the findings suggest that quitting smoking by all women during pregnancy could significantly reduce the incidence of schizophrenia. In any case, women should be aware of the risk that cigarettes pose to their unborn children in pregnancy. (Fp)