What are the adverse effects on the embryo if pregnant women smoke?
There is a higher probability of ectopic pregnancy and placenta previa, fetal malformation due to gene mutation and congenital facial malformation like cleft lip or cleft palate. The shaping, survival rate and weight at birth as well as the resistance to diseases will be adversely affected. Pregnant women smoking will give rise to IUGR, so that the baby will be born with lower weight, poor physical constitution, short height and small head. This will not only affect the early health of the infant, but also lead to death of the infant. Babies gestated by smoking mothers will have underdeveloped lungs which are susceptible to infection and thus be subject to higher fatality rate. What’s worse, the newborns by smoking mothers have a higher probability to suffer from congenital monstrosity like congenital heart diseases (in most cases, severe heart diseases) and cancer in the future.
