Smoking Linked With Small Birth Weights

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 26

Smoking Linked With Small Birth Weights

(N.Z. Press Association — Copyright) WASHINGTON, November 11. One of America’s leading obstetricians says cigarette smoking by expectant mothers resulted in births of smaller infants, according to United Press International.

Dr. Paul B. Underwood jun., of Charleston, South Carolina, made the statement in one of several research reports presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Dr. Underwood, head of the South Carolina Medical College Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, said a survey showed that the heavier the smoker, the smaller infants were at birth. He said 4400 women, representing more than 16,000 pregnancies, were interviewed between 1960 and 1962. Those questioned were divided into groups of smokers and non-smokers. The women who smoked were then separated as to quantity of cigarettes used—a half pack, one pack and more than a pack a day. Dr. Underwood said the study showed that women who did not smoke gave birth to heavier infants than did mothers who smoked only a pack a day. He said even smaller infants were born to women who smoked more than a pack a day. “These statistics indicate that smoking during pregnancy dees decrease the birth weight of new born infants,” Dr. Underwood said. However, he added “other factors, possibly nutritional also play an important role.’’ He said the study did not determine whether the decreased birth weight of child-

ren born to mothers who smoke is "detrimental.” “It appears that in women of normal fertility, smoking probably does not cause any true difficulty,” he said. “However, if a patient has an infertility problem or a poor obstetrical history it would probably behove the doctor to have the patient cease smoking.”