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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Here's another reason not to smoke while you're pregnant -- it could raise your baby's blood pressure.
When researchers in the Netherlands studied 456 infants, they found babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy had 5.4 millimeters (mm Hg) of mercury higher systolic blood pressure by age two months compared to those whose mothers didn't smoke and were not exposed to smoke during pregnancy. The study also shows newborns of smoking moms were much lighter, shorter, and had a smaller chest circumference than other infants.
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Only 6.6 percent of moms in the study said they smoked during pregnancy; 13.8 percent said they did not smoke but were exposed to smoke; and 79.6 percent reported they were not exposed to smoke while they were pregnant.
While results show an association between maternal smoking and systolic blood pressure in newborns -- the larger of the two numbers in a reading, which represents when the heart is fully contracted -- they did not show a significant difference between smoke exposure and newborn diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. The diastolic pressure is the lower number of the reading. It occurs when the heart relaxes.
The study also found males infants were more likely to have higher systolic blood pressure if their mothers smoked -- 8.6 mm Hg higher than infants who were not exposed to smoke in utero.
The authors say they are not sure whether higher blood pressure in newborns will have an impact on blood pressure later in life. They plan to follow the children for at least four to five years to see if the increase in blood pressure continues.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, 2007;50
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