Smoking And Necrotizing Enterocolitis

[ironjustice]

Mom’s Smoking Tied to Dangerous Gut Illness in Preemies
Last Updated: June 14, 2012.

Study found it was strongest risk factor for 'necrotizing
enterocolitis' in newborns.
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Mothers who smoke while pregnant
may raise the risk that, if born prematurely, their babies will
develop a serious and perhaps life-threatening bowel disease known as
"necrotizing enterocolitis," a small new study has found.

Although its underlying cause is poorly understood, necrotizing
enterocolitis poses the most common gastrointestinal emergency in
premature babies, the study authors noted. The disease destroys tissue
in the lining of the intestinal walls of newborns.

To date, no specific cause for necrotizing enterocolitis has been
determined, although many post-birth factors -- including bacterial
infection, mechanical ventilation and formula-feeding -- have been
implicated in its onset, according to background information in the
study. But the current study involving 73 infants suggests maternal
smoking could be a key prenatal harbinger of the condition.

"We tried a different line of thinking for an intestinal disease among
premature babies that we don't have a defined association for, by
looking at several factors during pregnancy that could play a role,"
said study lead author Dr. Cynthia Downard, assistant professor of
pediatric surgery at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

"And, in fact, the only [factor] that was statistically significant
was maternal smoking, which I think gives yet more credence to
obstetricians and pediatricians to advise that women stop smoking
during pregnancy," she said.

The study is published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Downard noted that roughly 7 percent to 10 percent of all American
infants develop necrotizing enterocolitis, making it one of the most
prominent causes of death among premature babies.

To explore potential prenatal causes, the team analyzed the medical
records of 73 premature babies who were hospitalized for necrotizing
enterocolitis in the intensive care unit of a single hospital at some
point between 2004 and 2009.

The researchers looked at the mothers' prenatal and postnatal status,
including maternal smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index,
age and diabetes incidence, as well as data on the labor itself and
post-labor feeding routines.

The result: Maternal cigarette smoking was the sole factor that was
linked to an elevated risk for necrotizing enterocolitis.

The authors theorized that the toxins and nicotine found in cigarettes
have a harmful effect on the uterine environment to which the fetus is
exposed, perhaps affecting the gestating child's vascular development
and, in turn, rendering the child more vulnerable.

Smoking during pregnancy also puts babies at higher risk for being
underweight and having birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft
palate, according to the March of Dimes.

The research team said this is the first time maternal smoking has
been "definitively" associated with necrotizing enterocolitis among
preemies.

"Now the question to ask is whether or not nicotine patches [to help
pregnant women quit smoking] would also do the same harm," Downard
said. "We don't have that information in the maternal records, so we
don't know. But I do think it would be associated to a certain extent,
although hopefully not to the same extent long term."

Commenting on the study findings, Dr. Mary Rosser, an assistant
professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's
health at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in New York City, said: "We always talk about necrotizing
enterocolitis associated with preterm delivery and prematurity,
because it is, as [the study authors] point out, the most common
gastrointestinal emergency among premature infants."

And, she added, "on the other hand, cigarette smoking is also
correlated with preterm labor, preterm delivery and low birth weight
babies. So this work is interesting because it puts both of those
facts together."

More research is needed, said Rosser, especially in light of how much
nicotine is "absorbed by the baby, which will definitely affect the
baby's vascular development."

While the study uncovered an association between smoking during
pregnancy and necrotizing enterocolitis in preemies, it did not prove
a cause-and-effect relationship.

More information

For more on necrotizing enterocolitis, visit the U.S. National Library
of Medicine.


SOURCES: Cynthia Downard, M.D., assistant professor, division of
pediatric surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky.; Mary L.
Rosser, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, department of obstetrics,
gynecology and women's health, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, New York City; July 2012, Pediatrics

Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

----------------------

One thing common to smoking and necrotizing enterocolitis is
Polycythemia , too many red blood cells.
Polycythemia causes a lack of blood flow due to the hyperviscosity
which accompanies polycythemia.
Lack of blood flow causes gangrene , necrotizing entrocolitis.

"Polycythemia as a cause of necrotizing enterocolitis"
"Necrotizing enterocolitis can be caused by polycythemic
hyperviscosity in the newborn dog."

Who loves ya.
Tom


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http://tinyurl.com/2r2nkh


Man Is A Herbivore!
http://tinyurl.com/4rq595


DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk

[ironjustice]

On Jun 17, 8:28 am, ironjustice <ironjust...@cool.zzn.com> wrote:
"Polycythemia as a cause of necrotizing enterocolitis" "Necrotizing
enterocolitis can be caused by polycythemic hyperviscosity in the
newborn dog." <<

"27 percent of the non-anemic women in our study had hemoglobin levels
that were undesirably high"
"In these women, the risk of delivering premature babies or newborns
with low birth weight quadrupled."

http://www.health.am/pregnancy/more/risks-for-pregnant-women/

"What happens is that excess iron in pregnancy can drive the
hemoglobin
levels above desirable levels, so that by the end of the second
trimester of pregnancy, 27 percent of the non-anemic women in our
study
had hemoglobin levels that were undesirably high," said Fernando
Viteri, MD, Scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research
Institute
(CHORI). "In these women, the risk of delivering premature babies or
newborns with low birth weight quadrupled."

[Robert Miles]

On 6/18/2012 8:23 PM, ironjustice wrote:
> On Jun 17, 8:28 am, ironjustice <ironjust...@cool.zzn.com> wrote:
> "Polycythemia as a cause of necrotizing enterocolitis" "Necrotizing
> enterocolitis can be caused by polycythemic hyperviscosity in the
> newborn dog." <<
>
> "27 percent of the non-anemic women in our study had hemoglobin levels
> that were undesirably high"
> "In these women, the risk of delivering premature babies or newborns
> with low birth weight quadrupled."
>
> http://www.health.am/pregnancy/more/risks-for-pregnant-women/
>
> "What happens is that excess iron in pregnancy can drive the
> hemoglobin
> levels above desirable levels, so that by the end of the second
> trimester of pregnancy, 27 percent of the non-anemic women in our
> study
> had hemoglobin levels that were undesirably high," said Fernando
> Viteri, MD, Scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research
> Institute
> (CHORI). "In these women, the risk of delivering premature babies or
> newborns with low birth weight quadrupled."
>
> Who loves ya.
> Tom

How would you like to have ALL iron in your bloodstream by
an artificial organ that keeps on removing it for at least
a month?