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  • Title: [The effect of tobacco and alcohol on pregnancy course and child development].
    Author: Knörr K.
    Journal: Bull Schweiz Akad Med Wiss; 1979 Mar; 35(1-3):137-46. PubMed ID: 454878.
    Abstract:
    Smoking during pregnancy may cause small-for-date babies, severeness and frequency depending on the number of cigarettes per day. Regular and heavy smoking appearently increases perinatal mortality. A similar correlation and additionally an increased rate of newborns with major abnormalities was observed when the father regularly smoked 10 and more cigarettes per day, even then when the mother was a non-smoker. The mechanism involved is unclear. Based upon present information one may favour the view that smoking of the father impairs spermiogenesis rather than "passive" smoking of the mother. Regular intake of liquor by the mother is well correlated with a shortened duration of pregnancy--that means an increased rate of abortion and prematurity. The consequences and responsibilities in the frame of family planning and prenatal care are discussed. The results referred to were attained mainly by a prospective study "Course of pregnancy and child development" supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). A prospective study in West Germany of approximately 6,000 pregnancies has demonstrated the effects of smoking and alcohol consumption on fetal and infant development. Pregnant women were followed from the first trimester, and infants were followed from birth to 3 years of age, 1964-72. Infants of smokers were more frequently small-for-date, and a positive dose-response relationship with the number of cigarettes smoked was established. Perinatal mortality was directly related to the number of cigarettes smoked by the mother and the father. The study included no alcohol abusers, but regular alcohol use was related to shorter duration of pregnancy and higher miscarriage rate. These results were not related to parents' sociodemographic charactristics. The mechanism of these effects remains unclear.
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