Finnish researchers have found that children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to be on psychiatric medications.
The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology, cited a link between smoking by pregnant women and the use later on by their children of such medications as anti-anxiety drugs, anti-psychotics, antidepressants, stimulants and addiction treatments.
As Reuters reports, the findings don’t directly prove that cigarette smoking during pregnancy causes changes in children’s brains or behavior, but they show a worrisome connection that provides yet another reason to avoid tobacco.
“These findings show that exposure to smoking during pregnancy is linked to both mild and severe psychiatric morbidity,” wrote the lead researcher, Dr. Mikael Ekblad from the Department of Pediatrics at Finland’s Turku University Hospital.
The researchers looked at data on about 175,000 Finnish children born between 1987 and 1989 and tracked their use of medications between the ages of 5 and 20 by using a a nationwide database of prescription drugs covered by insurance.
Among children whose mothers didn’t smoke during pregnancy, 8.3 percent of the children were on psychiatric medications. The percentage rose to 11.3 percent among children whose mothers smoked up to nine cigarettes a day, and 13.6 percent for children whose mothers smoked more.
In the U.S., an estimated 820,000 women smoke while they are pregnant.
TIMOTHY BELLA
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