In a first ever experimental study to compare breathing reflexes of preemies born to smokers with those born to non-smokers, researchers in Canada found that premature babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are likely to be at a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) than premature infants whose mothers did not. Scientists already knew that low oxygen or hypoxia, coupled with an excess of carbon dioxide (hypercarbia), were predictors of SIDS, since babies at greatest risk of the syndrome tend to respond less effectively to low oxygen and/or excess carbon dioxide. Before starting the experiment (baseline), the researchers measured the breathing rate, pauses in breath, recovery period and heart rate of all the babies in both the cigarette smoke exposed group and the control group. The babies who had been exposed to cigarette smoke as fetuses showed increased heart rate while breathing oxygen poor air compared to when they breathed the normal air, while the babies who had not been exposed to cigarette smoke had the same heart rate under both conditions. Also, while blood oxygen went down the same in both groups under poor oxygen conditions, the babies who had been exposed to cigarette smoke did not recover as well, as quickly, or as often as the control group babies. read more

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