AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY JOURNAL NEWS TIPS FOR SEPTEMBER
For release: September 14 , 1998
SMOKING AFFECTS PRETERM INFANTS
As part of the first study to examine the impact of maternal smoking on respiratory function in preterm infants, researchers in England studied 108 infants who were born an average of seven weeks premature. In the British Isles, about one-third of the mothers smoke during pregnancy. They found that respiratory function was compromised in the babies subjected to heavy tobacco smoke exposure in the womb, and that the adverse effects of tobacco smoke on infant breathing was evident some eight weeks before most babies are born.. The article appears in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
MATERNAL SMOKING CAUSES INCREASED AIRWAY WALL THICKNESS IN INFANTS
In the first year of life, passive smoking has been linked to increased risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Australian researchers examined the airways of 19 SIDS victims whose mothers had smoked, and those of 19 infant victims of SIDS whose mothers had not smoked. The clinical investigators found increases in the thickness of inner airway walls in the large airways of infants whose mothers had smoked. These changes had caused significant physiologic abnormalities which contributed to airway narrowing, possibly causing their death from SIDS. This study appears in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
NOCTURNAL ASTHMA SYMPTOMS RELATED TO CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
Nocturnal asthma, characterized by an increase in nighttime symptoms, is related to sleep and to bodily circadian rhythms. Biorhythms are based on a 24-hour, sleep/wake cycle. A report in the September issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine discusses research directed at how this type of asthma becomes more frequent, severe, and longer in intensity. The workshop summary also discusses a new class of drugs that can alleviate the symptoms of nocturnal asthma and improve lung function. The report also suggests new research, based on biorhythms, needed in the future.
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