While the hazards of smoking are already evident, the UB Research Institute on Addictions will study further the effects of smoking on baby development under a recent grant.
The Institute has been awarded a $2.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a subdivision of the National Institute of Health, to conduct the study.
"We are very excited to be getting this grant," said Rina Das Eiden, primary investigator in the study. "We wouldn't be able to do this study without it."
The study, which examines the effects of smoking from prenatal stages through toddler-hood, will examine the conditions surrounding each baby, and compare babies in a smoking environment that show negative symptoms to those in a similar situation who do not show negative effects.
Eiden said that previous studies show smoking during pregnancy causes low birth weight in infants, which can lead to many other health issues such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and higher rates of ear infection throughout childhood.
"We also know that not all children are affected negatively by cigarette smoking in their environment," she said. "We hope to find out what causes resilience in the development of children in smoking environments."
This will be the first study done examining the early development aspect of the effects of smoking on infants, Eiden said.
"One of the main problems in children exposed to smoking through their infancy is low rates of arousal, which may cause developmental and behavioral problems in later childhood," she said. "Since there has been no formal research done on the matter, the prevalence of such early developmental problems are the main focus of the study."
The study will be following a sample of 250 to 300 women from the first trimester of pregnancy until each child is two years of age. About half of the women will be smokers and the other half non-smokers.
Through interviews and observations, the researchers will study the lifestyles of the mothers in relation to smoking, and hope to find a correlation with the development of their children.
"The study will also examine smoking in the social network of the pregnant women, to what extent smoking is a part of her day to day life and how her family and friends may affect her ability to quit smoking or continue to not smoke," said Kenneth Leonard, a co-investigator in the study.
Finally, the study will show how smoking impacts the parenting ability of those who smoke.
"Previous studies have shown that many households don't allow smoking around infants," Leonard said. "Even if there are smokers in a family with a new baby, that person is usually asked to smoke outside."
Such precautions taken to protect infants may show why not all babies suffer from developmental issues due to cigarette smoke in their environment.
Though the research is only a descriptive study, both Eiden and Leonard feel that its results could help create smoking intervention and prevention programs as well as bring about issues that may require further research.
"Since about 25 percent of women smoke during pregnancy, this is a very serious issue. Whatever research can be done on it is important," Eiden said.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
