Los Angeles, .- Smoking during pregnancy doubles the chances of sudden infant death (SUID) even in those mothers who quit smoking after the first trimester of pregnancy, says a study published today.
The research, conducted jointly by the Seattle Center for Comprehensive Brain Research and Microsoft, included data from across the country and is a clear warning of the dangerous effects of cigarette smoking during pregnancy, even for short periods.
“With this information, doctors can better advise pregnant women about their smoking habits, knowing that the number of cigarettes consumed daily during pregnancy significantly impacts the risk of SUID,” said Tatiana Anderson, researcher at the center. , who directed the study.
“Similar to the public health campaigns that educate parents about the importance of the position of babies when they sleep and that have led to a reduction of 50% in the rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), we expect that warn women about this (cigarette) risk will result in fewer babies dying from these tragic causes, “Anderson added.
If mothers had not smoked during pregnancy, the study estimates that 800 of the approximately 3,700 SUID deaths that occur each year in the United States could have been prevented, which would mean reducing the index by 22%.
The researchers used computer models to study the habits of smoking mothers in all births occurring in the country from 2007 to 2011.
Of the approximately 20 million births studied, nearly 19,000 deaths were attributed to SUID, including sudden deaths during sleep (SIDS), as well as others caused by illness, strangulation in bed, or unknown reasons.
When analyzing the data of smoking mothers and comparing them with those that decreased cigarette consumption during the first trimester, the researchers found a 12% decrease in SUID risk.
For those who were successful in completely quitting smoking in the first trimester of pregnancy, the risk of sudden infant death from any cause decreased by 23%.
According to Juan Lavista, senior director of Scientific Data of the Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory (AI) for Microsoft’s Good, the use of computerized systems allowed the study to analyze millions of data.
“Using AI, we built machine learning models that analyzed millions of pieces of birth and infant deaths data, including stories related to smoking in mothers,” the researcher said.
According to Lavista, the application of these computerized models “allowed us to do something that had never been done: to establish the impact that each additional cigarette had on the SUID indexes.” (EFEUSA)
