That smoking is an unhealthy habit for health is well known. What should also be noted is that, in the event that a woman is pregnant, smoking can have a relevant effect both in the short and long term on the development of the baby , specifically on her brain. These negative consequences have been reviewed by Mikael Ekblad, from the Turku University Hospital in Finland and two collaborators, in an article recently published in Acta Pediatrica (2015).
Tobacco contains multiple toxic substances that have shown harmful effects on the development of the brain in the fetus. According to Ekblad and his team, studies have found that the formation of connections between neurons and even cell survival can be affected . In other aspects of development there are also effects since, apparently, other researchers have found that babies with prenatal exposure to tobacco are more excitable, show more signs of stress and demand more contact than those who were not exposed to these substances.
Among the findings described in the Ekblad article, we highlight the possible changes in head growth, in the volume of the brain of both newborn and infancy children, and finally changes in brain function. More specifically, children exposed to tobacco during pregnancy show less than normal growth on their head , up to half an inch less in newborns.
In terms of brain volume, it seems that prenatal exposure to tobacco throughout pregnancy may lead to a smaller brain size in fetuses in the later stages of pregnancy . Once the baby is born, it has been observed that when they are premature and their mothers have smoked during pregnancy, these children show less volume of the frontal lobe and cerebellum . Apparently, this lower brain volume can be maintained even into adolescence, as the authors of this publication review.
The question now is, are these effects on brain structures related to changes in children’s abilities? From the various studies reviewed by Ekblad and his colleagues, it seems to follow that it does, at least when children are young. It has been described that compared with children whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy, the group of children exposed to tobacco during pregnancy were four times more reactive to the sounds of the environment when they were evaluated with only two days of life, which is also observed at 6 months of age.
According to the authors, this may be related to a greater difficulty in processing auditory stimuli that in later moments could be associated with difficulties in language development and reading . Other studies done with adolescents whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have found that their brains were more ‘uncoordinated’ at the frontal, temporal, parietal and cerebellar areas when processing auditory information.
With all this information, it would be advisable to consider quitting smoking if the woman plans to have a child, and in any case, quitting as soon as possible if she is already pregnant. This can favor a better development of the baby and better future conditions. On the other hand, it would be appropriate to develop specific interventions to help affected children improve their cognitive performance if they need it.
Marisa Fernández is Senior Neuropsychologist at Unobrain
