Smoking During Pregnancy Alters Newborn Stress Hormones - Article Example

There statistical figures showing that in every ten pregnant women in the US, one is smoking despite the known health risks associated with it and warnings by medical professionals. This leads to the birth of children who cannot mount enough response when faced with daily stressors which are very detrimental to the children. The statistics show that behavior is more prevalent in mothers who are younger, economically poor, and underserved.I find this article very interesting because of the information it makes available regarding the relationship between smoking among pregnant women and stress response in their babies.

The researchers were able to study smoking women and their babies during and after pregnancy to come up with their findings. They went ahead to study the genetics of the behavior and link alterations in the hormones responsible for the regulation of exchange of stress hormones between the mother and child to smoking in pregnancy. Some demographics are also given which shows that the behavior is more prevalent in younger and poor women who are underserved. It, therefore, provides very important information with far-reaching policy implications.