It is common knowledge that smoking is linked to numerous poor health outcomes. Now, researchers find that this fact extends even before birth. Mariona Bustamante, a molecular epidemiologist at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and her colleagues found that when pregnant women smoke, the habit impacts the placenta with consequences for the growing fetus. Maternal smoking during pregnancy associated with methylation signatures across the placental epigenome in genes involved in regulating inflammation, growth signaling, and cardiometabolic outcomes.
“Deregulated biological functions identified in our study provide biological plausibility for the effects of tobacco smoking on reproductive outcomes and can help policy makers implement public health campaigns to help stop smoking,” Bustamante said.
Despite anti-tobacco campaigns, maternal smoking during pregnancy is still common. In Europe, where Bustamante works, approximately one in ten mothers smokes. The impact on developing offspring is well-known: low birth weight, higher risk of preterm birth, and greater susceptibility ...
