Smoking Cause Heart Defect in Baby

Disadvantages of smoking, particularly for women. Recent research says that pregnant women who smoke in the first trimester was associated with a 20-70 percent greater risk of their babies are born with congenital heart defects.

Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect. These conditions contribute to about 30 percent of infant deaths from birth defects each year.

The study also found an association between tobacco and some type of disability that prevents blood flow from the right side of the heart to the lungs and between the upper chamber of the heart.

"Women smokers trying to stop the habit if you want to get pregnant," said CDC Director Thomas R Frieden.

"Successfully quitting smoking during pregnancy could reduce the likelihood of complications during pregnancy such as premature birth and low infant weight at birth," says Adolfo Correa, a medical officer at the CDC.

Research that was held by the Agency for the Prevention and Treatment of Diseases published in the March 2011 issue of Pediatrics.