If women do not smoke during pregnancy, they will be saving nearly 800 lives a year, according to a study conducted by Seattle Children’s Hospital in association with Microsoft.
Well, it is quite unlikely that a pregnant woman will smoke during gestation. It is a known fact that how dangerous smoking could be to an unborn baby.
Dr. Tatiana Anderson, a lead author of the study from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, said, “Any smoking, any amount of smoking, even just one cigarette can double your chances of a sudden, unexpected infant death.”
It is an incredibly amazing finding from a study conducted by the medical expertise at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the data science at Microsoft.
John Kahan, Microsoft’s Chief Data Analytics Officer, and his wife Heather lost their son Aaron to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). They raise money and awareness about SIDS. In fact, some of John’s employees voluntarily helped them and nearly two years ago, some of John’s employees volunteered to help.
They analyzed the data of nearly 20 million births in the U.S. at the CDC, which includes every child born from 2007 to 2011. This is probably the largest study ever conducted to evaluate the data.
The findings were published Monday in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Juan Lavista, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Data Science, said, “It’s very difficult to quit smoking. But I think one of the insights is that every cigarette counts. So even if they can reduce, it will still be helpful. Quitting is much better, but reducing still helps.”
The SIDS risk decreased by 12 percent for women who kept smoking during gestation but stopped it by the third trimester, while quitting altogether reduced the risk by 23 percent. Also, the team found that women who smoked for the first three months prior to becoming pregnant had a greater risk.
Dr. Anderson said, “If you’re thinking about getting pregnant, you need to quit before you actually become pregnant.” Seattle Children’s Hospital and Microsoft are also looking at other possible links to SIDS.
