Harm of prenatal exposure to secondhand smoke magnified for poor children.

2004 APR 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The effect on mental development of prenatal exposure to secondhand smoke is magnified for children with socioeconomic disadvantage, according to a new study by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, part of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

The study found that children whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy to secondhand smoke have reduced scores on tests of cognitive development at age 2, when compared to children from smoke-free homes. The reduction amounts to almost five developmental quotient points (out of an average score of 100). In addition, the children exposed to secondhand smoke are twice as likely to have developmental scores below 80, indicative of developmental delay.

The reduction in cognitive development is magnified for socioeconomically disadvantaged children whose mothers lived in inadequate housing or had insufficient food or clothing during pregnancy. The combined effect results in a deficit of about seven points in cognitive development. The study will be published online March 5, 2004, in Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

"These findings reveal the dangers for pregnant women and their unborn children of multiple 'toxic' exposures - both chemical and socioeconomic," said Dr. Virginia Rauh, a deputy director of the Center and associate professor at the Mailman School of Public ...