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African-American and Latino children whose mothers smoked duringpregnancy are more likely to suffer from acute asthma symptoms in their teens than asthma sufferers whose mothers didnot smoke, according to a new study led by a research team at UCSF. In an analysis of nearly 2,500 Latino and African-American childrenwith asthma, the researchers found that children between age 8 and17 with acute asthma symptoms were far more likely to have hadmothers who smoked during pregnancy, even when the team controlledfor elements such as education, socioeconomic level and childhoodexposure to tobacco smoke. "If women smoked while pregnant, their children had about a 50percent increase in uncontrolled asthma, even when we controlledfor current tobacco exposure," said Sam S. Oh, PhD, MPH, apostdoctoral scholar in epidemiology at the UCSF Center for TobaccoResearch and Education, who is first author on the paper. "Kids whoare 17 years old still show the effects of something they wereexposed to during the first nine months of life." The findings are significant in light of the greater proportion ofwomen from ethnic minorities who smoke throughout theirpregnancies, the researchers said, as well as the higher rates ofasthma within both of those communities than in the overall U.S.population. The results will appear in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and can be found in the advance online edition. Acute asthma significantly affects the quality of life of patientsand their families, costing an estimated $56 billion per year inthe United States in medical expenses, premature deaths and misseddays of work and school, according to the National Institutes ofHealth. While extensive research has shown the effect of smoking on asthmarisk in young children, the relative contribution of smoking duringpregnancy has not been well established, with even less researchfocused on the populations that are more likely to use tobaccoduring pregnancy, according to the paper. The study found that the exact timing of tobacco exposure duringpregnancy - whether it was the first trimester or third - was lessimportant than whether they smoked at all, although children withacute symptoms were more likely to have had mothers who smoked forall nine months. "Most mothers tend to quit smoking as pregnancy progresses, withthe majority quitting by the end of the first trimester," Oh said."But in African-American and Puerto Rican mothers, not only didthey smoke more frequently, but they also smoked for a longer timeduring pregnancy." An estimated 13.8 percent of American women smoke during pregnancy,according to the U.S. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.Among African-American women, 18.8 percent smoke during pregnancy,as do 6 percent of Puerto Rican mothers and 3.8 percent of Mexicanmothers. Findings such as these give a strong incentive to reducethat to zero, the researchers said. Smoking cessation during pregnancy was uncommon among the PuertoRican and African-American study participants, with only 35 percentand 29 percent, respectively, quitting smoking before their thirdtrimester. In contrast, 72 percent of the Mexican mothers stoppedsmoking by the end of the second trimester. "This could be part of the reason African Americans have highermortality rates associated with asthma," said Esteban GonzalezBurchard, MD, MPH, a professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy whoseresearch focuses on disparities in asthma prevalence, severity anddrug responsiveness among diverse racial/ethnic populations. "Weknow African Americans metabolize nicotine differently thanCaucasians. This shows that in utero exposure leads to changes inDNA, but we don't know how that affects asthma later on." The researchers said the findings highlight one of two possiblecauses: either the infant's lungs are damaged during development inthe womb or in utero exposure to tobacco smoke causes a geneticchange that carries over to the next generation. Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China St. nirvana Slimming Herbs Capsule , Japan Hokkaido Weight Loss Pills for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Herbal Weight Loss Capsule.
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