Smoking Early in Pregnancy Raises Risk of Heart Defects in Infants

CDC Report Links Birth Defects to Maternal Smoking

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Maternal cigarette smoking in the first trimester was associated with a 20 to 70 percent greater likelihood that a baby would be born with certain types of congenital heart defects. The most common type of birth defects, congenital defects account for approximately 30 percent of infant deaths from defects each year.

The study, in the Feb. 28 issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that there was an association between tobacco exposure and certain types of defects. Cited were defects such as those that obstruct the flow of blood from the right side of the heart into the lungs and openings between the upper chambers of the heart. 

“Women who smoke and are thinking about becoming pregnant need to quit smoking and, if they’re already pregnant, they need to stop,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Quitting is the single most important thing a woman can do to improve her health as well as the health of her baby.”

Based on the findings of this and other studies, eliminating smoking before or very early in pregnancy could prevent as many as 100 cases of right ventricular outflow tract obstructions and 700 cases of atrial septal defects each year in the United States. For atrial septal defects alone, that could potentially save $16 million in hospital costs.