Smoking during Pregnancy

According to the research conducted by Brighton Medical School scientists, the reason why some pregnant women quit smoking much easier than others can be explained by the presence of particular gene that was named “smoking gene.”

1. During the research scientists examined more than 2,000 women who have been smoking before pregnancy, and found the gene that was associated with a variation in probability of giving up during pregnancy.

The results of the latter research were published in the April issue of the Journal of Medical Genetics.

From the total number of pregnant women who have been smoking before getting pregnant, only 35% quit smoking during the first trimester. Among those 35% of those quitters, 77% of women did not have the “smoking addiction gene” and 23% of those who reported giving up smoking had the latter gene.

As regards the remaining 65% of pregnant smokers, 60% of them kick away the habit during the second and the third pregnancy trimester, with 68% without the “addictive gene and 32% with that gene.

A particular variation on the genetic level connected with the nicotine addiction was examined since it had been earlier scientifically proven to be related to the number of cigarettes people smoke when they begin lighting up.

Brighton Medical School scientists state that the discovered gene can also be associated to other categories of smokers, however they decided to pay special attention to pregnant smokers since the latter group of smokers has a very strong reason to give up cigarettes.

The research leaders admitted that after getting pregnant, women find themselves under major pressure to give up smoking; at the same time there are several reasons that affect on whether they give up and when they do it. Among these reasons are social class, environment, education, and the attitude towards smoking of their partners.

According to Prof. Sherry Young, the objective of the research was to establish if the particular gene has been responsible for the number of cigarettes smoked and the possibility to give up smoking whenever they want to.

She added that the results of the research did not point out that women, who have the “smoking addiction gene" could not give up; it showed that it would be much more difficult for them to do it than for those without the gene.

Another research accomplished by the scientists from the School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine of the University of Edinburgh showed that smoking during pregnancy is related to fertility of future children.

The research leader states that they have found out that smoking during pregnancy affects the fertility of unborn boys since nicotine has a direct impact on a dominant testicle gene.

According to previous researches, it has been already established that smoking during pregnancy influences on the fertility of the children; however, the latter study points out how it happens.

University of Edinburgh scientists determined major decreases in the rate of DHH gene that is responsible for normal testis growth.

The results of the research showed that the levels of all genes were not changed, except the level of DHH gene. It was evident that unborn children of women who smoked during pregnancy experienced a significant reduction in the level of DHH gene as compared with fetuses of the women who did not smoke.

Dr. Adrienne Detberner, who took part in the research, admitted that the study they performed is historical since it proves that there has been a direct link between smoking during pregnancy and fertility of unborn children, especially as regards the DHH gene that plays a significant role in the development of testicles.