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Excerpts from: The exposure of nonsmoking and smoking mothers to environmental tobacco smoke during different gestational phases and fetal growth.

By Dejmek J, Solansk y I, Podrazilova K, Sram RJ.NCBI [06/11/02]

We studied the impact of maternal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on birth weight (BW), low birth weight (LBW), and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) according to self-reported maternal smoking habits in a sample of 6,866 singleton births. We obtained data about parental characteristics and maternal active smoking (AS) and passive smoking at delivery via maternal questionnaires and medical records. . .

ETS exposure reduced the BW of infants of nonsmoking mothers and contributed to additional BW reduction in infants of AS mothers. ETS exposure increased the risk of LBW but not that of IUGR in babies of nonsmoking mothers.