Smoking during pregnancy reduces childhood brain growth in very preterm babies FrontiersIn UniTurku Pregnancy PretermBabies ChildhoodBrainGrowth Development Smoking
By Dr. Liji Thomas, MDJan 24 2023Reviewed by Aimee Molineux Women who smoke during pregnancy run the risk of injuring brain development in their babies. Earlier research showed that the size of the brain was reduced in preterm babies born to such mothers when they reached what would have been full term, compared to babies born to non-smoking mothers. A new study extends this finding to adolescent brain growth.
Both gray and white matter in the cerebrum were reduced, along with lower surface area and fewer and shallower gyri. The fetal head growth lags by about 0.13 mm per week in these babies. What did the study show? Related StoriesThe researchers used volumetric MRI scanning in children who had been born very preterm and were now 13 years old. Their premise was that the smoking-associated reduction in brain volume seen in infancy would be seen at this point as well.
When the brain volume was compared to intracranial volume, those exposed to smoking had smaller volumes of gray matter in specific areas, namely, the inferotemporal and parahippocampal areas, than unexposed children. The former also showed lower surface area measures in the parahippocampal and postcentral regions.
This pioneering study of the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on adolescent brain volumes in children born very preterm takes forward earlier reports indicating smaller frontal and cerebellar volumes in this cohort, as well as smaller head circumferences in full-term infants born to smoking mothers.
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