A new study has warned that smoking during pregnancy may increase the risk of schizophrenia in baby. Researchers from Columbia University (CU) in the US evaluated nearly 1,000 cases of schizophrenia and matched controls among offspring born in Finland from 1983-1998.
Results showed that a higher maternal nicotine level in the mother’s blood was associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia among their offsprings, researchers said.
The study provides the most definitive evidence to date that smoking during pregnancy is associated with schizophrenia, they said.
Heavy maternal nicotine exposure was associated with a 38 per cent increased odds of schizophrenia, researchers said.
“To our knowledge, this is the first biomarker-based study to show a relationship between foetal nicotine exposure and schizophrenia,” said Alan Brown from CU.
Heavy smoking based on cotinine, a reliable marker of nicotine in maternal sera, was reported by 20 per cent of the mothers of cases, but only 14.7 per cent of the mothers of controls, researchers said.