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Summary Children who are born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy may increase their risk of heart attack.
A new study suggests that children who are born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy may increase their risk of heart attack and stroke later in life.Women who smoke during pregnancy have lower levels of good HDL cholesterol, which may increase their risk of heart attack in their babies. Study found that those whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had HDL levels of about 1.3 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), compared to a normal level of 1.5 mmol/L in children whose mothers did not smoke.Maternal smoking imprints an unhealthy set of characteristics on children while they are developing in the womb, which may well predispose them to later heart attack and stroke. It might even lead to other health problems like high blood pressure and high levels of bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.Rates of smoking by pregnant women are still high -- about 15 percent in most Western nations.
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