Risks of Smoking During Pregnancy
Smoking is harmful both for men as well as women. Women who smoke are likely to catch diseases easily as compared to men. As the system for women are different than men (especially reproductive system), smoking affects various system of women's body. Different types of cancers such as lung, heart, mouth, kidney as well as respiratory diseases are associated with smoking in men as well as women. It has been found that women who smoke are 12 times more prone to die from lung cancer. Besides these, numbers of organs are also affected due to smoking that result in various diseases. Some of the most common and dreadful conditions that arise as a matter of smoking in women are:
Effects of Smoking on Menstruation
Women who smoke usually complain about irregularity in menstruation periods. They are also likely to experience the unusual vaginal discharge or bleeding. Smoking women are likely to reach menopause at least two years earlier than non-smokers. Women who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day are more prone to this type of condition (early menopause).
Smoking and oral contraceptives
Women who smoke and takes oral contraceptives are found to increase their chance of having a heart attack or stroke by ten times than the women who do not smoke. They are also likely to develop cardiovascular diseases such as blood clot. In case of women who smoke, the use of oral contraceptive is prohibited with age.
Effects of Smoking on Hormone
Smoking interrupts the menstrual cycle in women and result in early menopause. The benefits of Estrogen replacement therapy often offers a negative results in case of women who smoke. Hence, it becomes important to discuss with doctor before undergoing estrogen replacement therapy which is meant for post menopausal women.
Osteoporosis and Smoking
Women are more prone to have osteoporosis problem as they grow old. The situation becomes more critical in case of women who are involved in smoking from their early ages. It has been found that women who are habituated of having 20 cigarettes since adulthood are likely to reduce their bone density by 5 to 10% by the time they reach menopause. Therefore, deficit in bone density is enough to increase the risk of fracture.
Effects of Smoking on Pregnancy
Smoking during pregnancy increases the chances of delivering an unhealthy baby. The chemicals that are contained in tobacco are directly passed to the fetus from mother to baby through blood stream. Smoking during pregnancy can lead to:
- Premature rupture of membranes.
- Still birth and sudden infant death syndrome.
- Placenta abruption.
- Premature birth and
- Miscarriage.
Hence, to avoid such complications women who are pregnant are suggested to quit smoking after the trimester period of pregnancy. Even if, the women continues smoking and gives birth to a baby, certain complications may be expected in the born child such as:- The infant may show learning disorders, attention deficit disorder and disruptive behavior.
- The infant born are likely to have low-birth weight.
- These babies are likely to experience respiratory problems such as asthma.
Eventually, smoking not only cause problems to the women but can have severe problems on the infant as well. Therefore, women are suggested to give away smoking to have a healthy life as well as healthy child.
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