We talk a lot about the risks to the baby when a pregnant woman smokes. In reality, the father’s smoking can also have consequences.
Your partner is expecting a child? You should think about quitting smoking. Even if we already know that the smoking of the mother can have consequences on the baby (malformations, sudden death of the infant for example), that of the father is never mentioned. Researchers from the Xiangya School of Public Health in China have looked into the subject. Their study is published in the journal European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
The fetus becomes a “passive smoker”
“Expecting fathers should quit smoking. They are a major source of second-hand smoke for pregnant women, which appears to be as harmful to unborn children as female smokers,” says Dr. Jiabi Qin, lead author of the study. . Thus, according to the researchers, fathers who smoke cigarettes cause the fetus to become a “passive smoker”. Like the mother, the father’s smoking can cause developmental defects in the fetus, such as congenital heart defects.
Women cut down on tobacco, not fathers
What particularly worries researchers is that women have been consuming less and less tobacco in recent decades. In particular because they are aware of the risks they pose to their health but to that of their future child if they become pregnant. This trend is not yet observed among future fathers, who are still too unaware of the consequences of their addiction to nicotine. “Smoking in expectant fathers and exposure to passive smoking in pregnant women is a more common situation than smoking in pregnant women,” Dr. Jiabi Qin recalls.
From 74 to 124% more risk
To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 125 studies involving more than 135,000 infants with congenital heart defects, and 8.8 million future parents. According to their results, the risk of malformations increased by 74% when the future father smoked cigarettes, and by 124% when the pregnant woman was exposed to passive smoking during pregnancy, compared to an unexposed woman.
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