Children whose mothers smoke during pregnancy tend to have more behavioural problems than those born to non-smokers, a new study finds, and these behavioural problems begin to appear as early as 18 to 24 months of age.
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A team of American and British researchers say it's the first study to link smoking during pregnancy and child behaviour problems - such as aggression and refusal to follow directions - in the first years of life. The findings were published in the July/August issue of Child Development.
May affect foetal brain
The researchers suspect that cigarette smoking by pregnant women affects foetal brain systems that regulate behaviour.
The study included 93 toddlers between 1 and 2 years of age. Of those, 47 percent were born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy. These children exhibited higher levels of behaviour problems.
In addition, the study found that while behaviour problems remained relatively stable over time for children who weren't exposed to cigarette smoke while in the womb, behaviour problems exhibited by smoke-exposed children substantially increased from 18 to 24 months of age.
While the study results are striking, they do not prove that prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke actually causes behavioural problems, noted researcher Lauren Wakschlag of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"However, our findings do move us one step closer to answering this question by generating new ideas regarding what areas of the brain might be affected by exposure," she said in a prepared statement.
"By characterising how disruptive behaviour unfolds in exposed children in the first years of life, we also highlight a window of opportunity for interventions to alter the course of these problems and prevent the development of serious and chronic disruptive behaviour disorders in children at risk," Wakschlag said. (HealthDayNews)
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