Do Women Who Smoke Passively Have a Higher Chance of Having Type 2 Diabetes During Pregnancy?

Passive smoking has been connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes, also known as diabetes of pregnancy, according to researchers at Tianjin Medical University and several other research centers in China, Canada, and the United States. Their study, reported on in September of 2016 in the Diabetes Metabolism Research and Review, included 12,786 pregnant women. Everybody underwent routine blood sugar reading checks…

• 8331 women exposed to passive smoking, 7.8 percent developed diabetes during their pregnancy.
• pregnant women not exposed developed the condition in 6.3 percent of cases.
• the pregnant women exposed to smoke had a 29 percent higher risk of developing than the women who weren’t exposed to it. gestational diabetes.
• obese women exposed to secondhand smoke had more than three times the risk of developing diabetes during their pregnancy compared to non-obese women who had not been exposed to smoke.

Based on these findings, the researchers came to the conclusion that both obesity and passive tobacco use increased the risk of gestational diabetes in the mother-to-be.

According to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Birth defects are also related to passive smoking, as of July 2016. Information from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study was examined by researchers at the Texas Department of State Health Services and several other American research institutions. Many websites that keep track of birth defects are included in the study.

Researchers compared birth defects cases with 10,200 healthy births from 1997 to 2009 during this time frame. They included mothers who had been exposed to secondhand smoke between one month before conception and the first three months of pregnancy, as well as forty-four different types of birth defects. Mothers who had been exposed to secondhand smoke had a higher risk of developing a number of birth defects…

• anencephaly: missing much of the brain – a 66 percent higher risk,
• spina bifida: inadequately formed spinal cord) – a 49 percent greater risk,
• cleft or split lip only – a 41 percent higher risk,
• cleft lip with or without cleft palate – a 24 percent increased risk,
• cleft palate only – a 31 percent greater risk,
• lack of kidneys – a 99 percent higher risk,
• limbs outside the bag of water – a 66 percent increased risk,
• a hole in the wall separating the left and right top chambers, or atria of the heart – a 37 percent greater risk.

More research on secondhand smoke and birth defects, the investigators concluded, is necessary. They express concern that some associations may have arisen by accident as a result of the large number of birth defects studied. Mothers-to-be who were exposed to secondhand smoke might also not be able to accurately recall that experience. On the other hand, we are all aware that passive smoking is unhealthy for us all and reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches the fetus, so avoiding smoke is always a good idea.