4D Ultrasounds Reveal Unborn Babies' Reactions to Moms Smoking During Pregnancy

By Ashwin Subramania - 24 Mar '15 17:38PM

A team of researchers released 4D ultrasound photographs to reveal the harmful impact smoking has on the fetus during pregnancy.

With the use of high definition images, researchers could find differences in the development of prenatal behavior in the fetuses of mothers who are smokers and non-smokers.

For the study, the researchers developed 4D ultrasound scans of 4 smokers and 16 non-smokers during their pregnancy, to observe fetal activity during weeks 24, 28, 32 and 36.

It was observed that fetuses belonging to smoking mothers would move their mouths more when compared to the fetuses of non-smoking mothers.

The authors of the study feel that the increase in movements could be possibly tied to central nervous system functions. As a result, the fetuses of smoking mothers didn't follow a normal developmental process when compared to that of non-smoking mothers.

Lead study author Dr. Nadja Reissland, a psychology professor at Durham University, said in a news release, "Our findings concur with others that stress and depression have a significant impact on fetal movements, and need to be controlled for. But additionally, these results point to the fact that nicotine exposure per se has an effect on fetal development over and above the effects of stress and depression."

While the researchers stressed all the mother participating in the study had normal births, they are however concerned about the effects smoking could have on fetuses.

According to CDC, 1 in 5 babies born to mothers who smoke end up having low birth weight. Smoking is also known to result in preterm delivery and can cause other health issues as well.

Co-author of the study Brian Francis, a professor at Lancaster University, said in a news release, "Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the fetus in ways we did not realize. This is yet further evidence of the negative effects of smoking in pregnancy."