Author Archives: Dr Smita Dhengle

Passive Smoke

When someone smokes, those around him or her smoke too. Similarly, a pregnant woman, who is smoking, is actually subjecting her foetus to the harmful effects of smoking. It is not difficult to understand that smoke from cigarettes, which is so dreadful for the smoker, is also damaging to others. Passive smoking is a serious public health risk for both children and adults. It is also a major source of indoor air pollution. It was estimated that prolonged passive smoking increases the risk of lung cancer by approximately 20 to 25 percent. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and passive smoking is known to be one of the main contributing factors in the development of childhood asthma. Female fertility can suffer because of passive smoking, making it harder to conceive a child.

Passive Smoking: A bane to health

Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 harmful chemicals, including at least, 40 cancer-causing agents. It also contains carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, which hinders the carrying of oxygen by blood. A non-smoker has to deal with side stream, smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette and the mainstream smoke that has been inhaled and then exhaled into the environment by the smoker. The sidestream smoke has about double the concentration of nicotine and tar as compared to mainstream smoke and is supposed to be more dangerous than the latter. Nearly four-fifths of the smoke that collects in a room due to a smoker is of the more harmful type of side-stream. Annually, about 7,500 and 15,000 infants and young children up to 18 months of age need hospital admissions due to respiratory tract infections in the United States alone due to passive smoking. American Heart Association now believes that passive smoke causes as many as 40,000 cardiac-related deaths per year, 3,000 lung cancer deaths in America and increases the risk of heart disease in an individual by 25 percent.

Protect yourself

In recent years, the perils of passive smoking have become widely acknowledged. Hence, public smoking has been legally forbidden. But for effective implementation of such regulations, community attitude must be reformed. A polite suggestion to your family member or friend could be made about the dangers of smoking in front of others. A signage forbidding smoking in your home and car could ring warning bells to the ears of the offenders. A pregnant lady must consider the injurious effects of passive smoking on her foetus. If you are a smoker, you could also choose to smoke at the designated place and never smoke around children and other people. A smoker should limit his smoking at home to one room, which is not visited by children and if they are puffing outside, they must avoid their exhaled smoke to drift in the others direction. Lastly, a smoker must always realize that others do not have to bear the brunt of his or her ill-habit.

Sometimes a high-risk pregnancy is the result of a medical condition present before pregnancy. In other cases, a medical condition that develops during pregnancy for either you or your baby causes a pregnancy to become high risk.

Specific factors that might contribute to a high-risk pregnancy include:

• Advanced maternal age. Pregnancy risks are higher for mothers older than age 35.
• Lifestyle choices. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and using illegal drugs can put a pregnancy at risk.
• Medical history. A history of chronic hypertension, diabetes, heart disorders, breathing problems such as poorly controlled asthma, infections, and blood-clotting disorders such as deep vein thrombosis can increase pregnancy risks.
• Surgical history. A history of surgery on your uterus, including multiple C-sections, multiple abdominal surgeries or surgery for uterine tumors (fibroids), can increase pregnancy risks.
• Pregnancy complications. Various complications that develop during pregnancy can pose risks. Examples include an abnormal placenta position, fetal growth less than the 10th percentile for gestational age (fetal growth restriction) and Rh (rhesus) sensitization — a potentially serious condition that can occur when your blood group is Rh negative and your baby’s blood group is Rh positive.
• Multiple pregnancy. Pregnancy risks are higher for women carrying twins or higher order multiples.

Deliveries before 37 weeks of pregnancy are considered “preterm” or premature:

• Labor that begins before 37 weeks of pregnancy is preterm or premature labor.
• Birth that occurs before 37 weeks of pregnancy is a preterm or premature birth.
• Infant born before 37 weeks in the womb is a preterm or premature infant.
• “Late preterm” refers to 34 weeks through 36 weeks of pregnancy. More than 70% of preterm infants are born during the late-preterm time frame. Late-preterm infants typically have better health outcomes than those born earlier, but they are still three times more likely to die in the first year of life than are full-term infants.

Preterm labor occurs between 20 and 36 6/7 weeks of pregnancy. Preterm birth is the most common cause of infant death. It is the leading cause of long-term disability in children. Many organs, including the brain, lungs, and liver, are still developing in the final weeks of pregnancy. The earlier the delivery, the higher the risk of serious disabilities such as cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and vision and hearing problems.

Preterm births can also take a heavy emotional and economic toll on families.