The first findings to result from a collaboration between Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Microsoft data scientists provide expecting mothers new information about how smoking before and during pregnancy contributes to the risk of an infant dying suddenly and unexpectedly before their first birthday.
According to the study published in Pediatrics, any amount of smoking during pregnancy — even just one cigarette a day — doubles the risk of an infant dying from SUID. For women who smoked an average of 1 to 20 cigarettes a day, the odds of SUID increased by 0.07 with each additional cigarette smoked.
Tatiana Anderson
“With this information, doctors can better counsel pregnant women about their smoking habits, knowing that the number of cigarettes smoked daily during pregnancy significantly impacts the risk for SUID,” said Dr. Tatiana Anderson, a researcher in Seattle Children’s Center for Integrative Brain Research and lead author on the study. “Similar to public health campaigns that educated parents about the importance of infant sleep position, leading to a 50% decrease in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rates, we hope advising women about this risk will result in [fewer] babies dying from these tragic causes.”
