Acute effects of maternal smoking on fetal hemodynamics

Abstract

Objective: To investigate acute effects of cigarette smoking on fetal hemodynamics. Method: Sixty seven women between 32nd to 40th weeks of gestation were evaluated. Maternal blood pressure and heart rate, fetal heart rate (FHR) tracing, umbilical and fetal middle cerebral arterial (MCA) color Doppler measurements were evaluated. Pre- and postsmoking results were compared with paired t-test. Results: Maternal heart rate significantly increased after smoking. Baseline FHR and FHR variability remained unchanged. The number of participants who had a reactive NST was 60 in 67 before smoking (89.5%) and decreased to 47 after smoking (70.1%) (p=0.009). There were no significant changes between maximum and minimum flow velocities, pulsatility index (PI), resistance index (RI) and systolic/diastolic flow ratio (S/D) of umbilical and middle cerebral arteries. Conclusion: The nicotine toad of a single cigarette may be inadequate to cause a detectable decrease in utero-placental blood flow; however, smoking prior to the FHR recording may alter the FHR reactivity. (C) 2004 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.