What are the hazards of secondhand smoke to pregnant women?

Secondhand smoke is extremely harmful to human health. For pregnant women, it not only threatens their own health, but also poses a great threat to the growth and development of the fetus. It may even easily lead to fetal malformation and sudden fetal death, causing miscarriage. It is also prone to pregnancy complications, leading to cancer during pregnancy and reducing the immunity of pregnant women. The harm to the conditioning and health care of the body is particularly serious.

(1) Pregnancy complications

Pregnant women are exposed to secondhand smoke for a long time. One of the hazards of secondhand smoke to pregnant women is damage to their own organs. Secondhand smoke is still the main cause of gestational hypertension in pregnant women and the main factor causing complications during pregnancy. For example, gestational hypertension and gestational hyperglycemia are closely related to secondhand smoke.

(2) Carcinogenesis during pregnancy

Secondhand smoke also contains a large amount of harmful substances, including 69 carcinogenic substances. These substances can induce key gene mutations in the body, thereby affecting the normal growth control mechanism and ultimately leading to cell cancer and the occurrence of malignant tumors. Studies have shown that smoking can cause lung cancer, oral and nasopharyngeal cancers, and women who inhale secondhand smoke during pregnancy are more likely to develop cancer due to hormonal changes.

(3) Sudden fetal death

Long-term inhalation of secondhand smoke by pregnant women can also cause sudden infant death syndrome and low fetal birth weight. It may also increase the risk of premature birth, neural tube defects and cleft lip and palate, and may even cause fetal stillbirth.

(4) Decreased immunity

Expectant mothers who are exposed to secondhand smoke for a long time will have their own resistance reduced, and will be more susceptible to colds, headaches, and even cancer. Expectant mothers who smoke more than 10 cigarettes of secondhand smoke a day have a miscarriage rate that is 1 times higher than that of non-smoking expectant mothers, and a premature birth rate that is 2 times that of non-smoking mothers. Long-term passive exposure to secondhand smoke can cause changes in certain organs of the human body and lead to a decrease in immunity.

(5) Fetal malformation and developmental abnormalities

Nicotine in cigarettes can cause placental blood vessels to constrict, reducing the blood supply to the fetus and causing fetal hypoxia. The carbon monoxide in cigarettes may cause fetal hypoxia, resulting in fetal maldevelopment or even stillbirth. The cyanide in cigarettes combines with a substance called sulfur amino acid in the human body, which can reduce the amount of vitamin B12 in the body, thereby affecting the development of the fetus and causing the child to be born with mental retardation. Children whose parents smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day are at risk of developing congenital defects such as cleft lip, valvular heart disease or urethral stenosis. Active smoking by pregnant women, like passive smoking, can cause great harm to the fetus. Passive smoking can also reduce the zinc content in the fetus's blood, which may affect the fetal brain development.