Capstone assignment 3 assignment

The Effects of Smoking In Pregnant Women

A Capstone Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Healthcare Administration

PURDUE UNIVERSITY GLOBAL

September 4, 2018

The Effects of Smoking in Pregnant Women

Background

The following section highlights some historical and reviewed information or material on smoking during pregnancy, and some of the effects the practice has not only on the unborn children but also on the mothers. Most people associate smoking with heart disease, cancer and major health conditions that have been documented in different scholarly materials. Smoking during the period of pregnancy is attributed to additional health challenges most of which are connected with the well-being of the unborn child (Banderali et al., 2015). It has been documented that smoking cigarettes is the leading cause of preventable deaths in several parts of the country and the rest of the world. Estimated figures of smoking prevalence during pregnancy are most of the time derived from self-reported data and information.

Validation of these data and information using biochemical markers like cotinine has most of the time shown that women who are pregnant may hide their smoking especially when they understand the kind of reactions they could be exposed to. As a result, the self-reported smoking prevalence data and information during pregnancy is underestimated (Banderali et al., 2015). Since negative attitudes towards maternal smoking have been on the increasing trend over the recent past, the validity and credibility of self-reported smoking data and information may be of special attention (Banderali et al., 2015).

This literature perspective brings forth an understanding on the consequences of smoking during pregnancy from the perspective of brain functioning and how the developing fetus is likely to be affected by the common practice. Banderali et al. (2015) stress that mothers often want healthy babies full of life and with a high brain capacity. However, smoking has been illustrated to have an immediate impact on how the fetus is developed and how the capacity of the brain is affected. Environmental factors can massively modulate genetically programmed development of the brain during the fetal life, and maternal smoking is a harmful factor (Banderali et al., 2015). It is saddening that while pregnant mothers and other people in the society have widespread and detailed knowledge and information on the consequences of smoking on the development of the fetus, statistics still show that more than 20 percent of women in this category continue with the practice in several parts of the world, Europe and United States not left behind (Ekblad, Korkeila & Lehtonen, 2015).

Statistics speculate that women and first-time mothers especially those coming from low-income families are worst hit by the effects of smoking during pregnancy, as compared to the older women who have had more than one baby (Ekblad, Korkeila & Lehtonen, 2015).The authors argue that in the case of teenage pregnancies, the depression and pressure from the families can drive the young girls into smoking as a way of relieving the stress and “becoming normal.” While another percentage of the teenagers smoke because it is considered “cool.”

The highest rates of smoking, according to Banderali et al. (2015) during pregnancy is often seen in teenage women, with more than 50 percent of them following the smoking bandwagon. In the recent past, we have had breakthroughs of increased knowledge of the potential negative consequences that smoking may have on the later psychological development of the child, which has the possibility of extending into adulthood as demonstrated in the available literature (Banderali et al., 2015). In their study, Hollams, De Klerk, Holt and Sly (2014), elaborate that compared to children born to non-smokers, infants who are born to smoking mothers are three times likely to be exposed to the risk of developing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

References

Banderali et al. (2015). Short and long term health effects of parental tobacco smoking during

pregnancy and lactation: a descriptive review. Journal of translational medicine, 13(1), 327.

Ekblad, M., Korkeila, J., & Lehtonen, L. (2015). Smoking during pregnancy affects foetal

brain development. Acta paediatrica, 104(1), 12-18.

Hollams, E. M., De Klerk, N. H., Holt, P. G., & Sly, P. D. (2014). Persistent effects of

Maternal smoking during pregnancy on lung function and asthma in adolescents.

American Journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 189(4), 401-407.