Prenatal exposure to cigarette smoking is associated with a decrease in arousal in infants☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Patients
Sixty-eight infants were studied. They were selected at random from a larger group of infants recruited for a research program on sleep-related behavior. The infants were eligible for this study if during gestation their mothers either did not smoke (defined as nonsmokers) or smoked >9 cigarettes per day (defined as smokers). There were 26 newborns studied while still in the nursery, where smoking was prohibited; 13 were born to nonsmokers and 13 to smokers.
At the time of testing, all newborns
RESULTS
Of the 34 smoking mothers, 25 smoked 10 to 20 cigarettes per day, and 9 smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. No difference was found between trimesters with regard to smoking frequency. No smoking mother reported cessation of smoking during pregnancy. Regular smoking of 10 to 50 cigarettes per day was reported by 21 of 34 husbands of mothers who smoked and by 3 of 31 husbands of mothers who did not smoke (P < .001). No difference was seen between mothers who smoked and those who did not for
DISCUSSION
Significantly greater auditory stimuli were needed to induce polygraphic arousals in infants of mothers who smoked than in infants of mothers who did not smoke. Behavioral awakenings also occurred less frequently in infants of smokers than in infants of nonsmokers. Previous studies had shown that infants born to smoking mothers had decreased reactions and orientation to auditory stimuli during the first 2 weeks of life.7 At 2 to 3 months of age, infants of smokers challenged during a daytime
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr R. Harper and Dr C. Marcus for their critical review of the manuscript.
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Cited by (141)
Cigarette smoke exposure effects on the brainstem expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), and on cardiac, respiratory and sleep physiologies
2019, Respiratory Physiology and NeurobiologyLow cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin levels during sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk period
2017, Sleep MedicineCitation Excerpt :During the first 6 months of life, the frequency of spontaneous movement changes with age [18–20]. As normal infants mature, their ability to arouse in response to hypoxia in NREM sleep [21], to auditory stimulation [22] or vibrotactile stimuli in REM sleep [23] diminishes by 2–3 months of age. This data could be related to the decrease in hypocretin levels during this risk period for SIDS.
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2017, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Failure of this response mechanism could contribute to SIDS risk (Richardson et al., 2009; McNamara and Sullivan, 2000; Schneider et al., 2008). Maternal smoking and smokeless tobacco use during pregnancy are associated with increased risk of neonatal apnea, while maternal smoking is also associated with a decreased arousal response (Richardson et al., 2009; Kahn et al., 1994; Franco et al., 1999; Horne et al., 2004; Sawnani et al., 2004; Stephan-Blanchard et al., 2010; Gunnerbeck et al., 2011; Chang et al., 2003). The administration of nicotine to pregnant ewes can evoke the same deficit in newborn lambs (Hafstrom et al., 2002).
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Supported by the Fondation Erasme.
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Reprint requests: André Kahn, MD, Pediatric Sleep Unit, University Children’s Hospital Reine Fabiola, av. J. J. Crocq 15, B-1020 Brussels, Belgium.
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0022-3476/99/$8.00 + 0 9/21/98374