Mothers who smoke while pregnant are causing changes to their unborn babies that can lead them to have less of a type of cholesterol known to protect against heart disease, scientists said on Tuesday.
In a study in the European Heart Journal, Australian researchers found that by the age of eight, children born to mothers who smoked in pregnancy had lower levels of HDL cholesterol, at around 1.3 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), than those born to mothers who hadn't smoked, with about 1.5 mmol/L.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is often referred to as "good" cholesterol and is known to play an important role in protecting against atherosclerosis, where fatty materials collect along the walls of arteries, thickening and eventually blocking them, leading to heart problems and heart attacks.
"Our results suggest that maternal smoking 'imprints' an unhealthy set of characteristics on children while they are developing in the womb, which may well predispose them to later heart attack and stroke," said David Celermajer, a professor of cardiology at the University of Sydney.
"This imprinting seems to last for at least eight years and probably a lot longer," he said, adding that the heart disease risk for smokers' children could be 10 to 15 percent higher.
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In a study in the European Heart Journal, Australian researchers found that by the age of eight, children born to mothers who smoked in pregnancy had lower levels of HDL cholesterol, at around 1.3 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), than those born to mothers who hadn't smoked, with about 1.5 mmol/L.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is often referred to as "good" cholesterol and is known to play an important role in protecting against atherosclerosis, where fatty materials collect along the walls of arteries, thickening and eventually blocking them, leading to heart problems and heart attacks.
"Our results suggest that maternal smoking 'imprints' an unhealthy set of characteristics on children while they are developing in the womb, which may well predispose them to later heart attack and stroke," said David Celermajer, a professor of cardiology at the University of Sydney.
"This imprinting seems to last for at least eight years and probably a lot longer," he said, adding that the heart disease risk for smokers' children could be 10 to 15 percent higher.
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