Does the cigarette smoke have any impact on the birth weight of an unborn child? This question led Gynaecologist Dr Max Mongelli of the Nepean Hospital from Penrith, New South Wales, Australia and his colleague Dr G.Condous of the Early Pregnancy and Endosurgery Unit, Nepean Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to conduct a research on soon-to-be mothers with varying body mass index all of whom were smokers.
Methods implemented in the study
This research was published on 1 October 2013 after studying an obstetric database of 13,473 live singleton pregnancies delivered at the Nepean Hospital between 1998 and 2003.
For the purpose of this study, pregnancy characteristics included in the research were self-reported figures given by expecting mothers such as the number of cigarettes smoked, age, parity, weight, height, and BMI.
Also, the maternal body mass index was broken into three distinct categories:
BMI<25
BMI>30
BMI 25-30
This offered the researchers a simpler understanding of the effects of cigarette smoke on the birth weight of a fetus.
Another important decision made by Dr Max Mongelli and Dr G.Condous was to perform a multivariate regression analysis for each of the three categories of maternal body mass index. This helped them identify any important predictors of the changes in fetal birth weight caused due to the adverse effect of smoking.
Results obtained from the analysis
An essential consideration made in this study was to include the mean maternal age, which was 27.2. Whereas, mean birth was 3377 g (or 7.445 lbs) with a standard deviation of 588 g, and the mean body mass index was 27.1 with a standard deviation of 6.1.
It was also found that there was no correlation between the body mass index and the number of cigarettes smoked. In fact, the regression analysis performed by Max Mongelli and G.Condous clearly displayed that for women with BMI<25, the effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight was -13.4 g per cigarette, for BMI 25-30, the effect was -12.9 g per cigarette and for BMI>30, the effect was -10.9 g per cigarette.
Conclusions from the research
The researchers found that the untoward effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight are altered by the mother's body mass index. The fetuses of obese mothers were found to be less receptive to the effect of tobacco smoke than the mothers who had a leaner body shape.
Visit here to consult a general physician near by.
Methods implemented in the study
This research was published on 1 October 2013 after studying an obstetric database of 13,473 live singleton pregnancies delivered at the Nepean Hospital between 1998 and 2003.
For the purpose of this study, pregnancy characteristics included in the research were self-reported figures given by expecting mothers such as the number of cigarettes smoked, age, parity, weight, height, and BMI.
Also, the maternal body mass index was broken into three distinct categories:
BMI<25
BMI>30
BMI 25-30
This offered the researchers a simpler understanding of the effects of cigarette smoke on the birth weight of a fetus.
Another important decision made by Dr Max Mongelli and Dr G.Condous was to perform a multivariate regression analysis for each of the three categories of maternal body mass index. This helped them identify any important predictors of the changes in fetal birth weight caused due to the adverse effect of smoking.
Results obtained from the analysis
An essential consideration made in this study was to include the mean maternal age, which was 27.2. Whereas, mean birth was 3377 g (or 7.445 lbs) with a standard deviation of 588 g, and the mean body mass index was 27.1 with a standard deviation of 6.1.
It was also found that there was no correlation between the body mass index and the number of cigarettes smoked. In fact, the regression analysis performed by Max Mongelli and G.Condous clearly displayed that for women with BMI<25, the effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight was -13.4 g per cigarette, for BMI 25-30, the effect was -12.9 g per cigarette and for BMI>30, the effect was -10.9 g per cigarette.
Conclusions from the research
The researchers found that the untoward effects of cigarette smoking on the fetal birth weight are altered by the mother's body mass index. The fetuses of obese mothers were found to be less receptive to the effect of tobacco smoke than the mothers who had a leaner body shape.
Visit here to consult a general physician near by.
