Psychiatric Problems More Prevalent Among Children Whose Mothers Smoked During Pregnancy

Children exposed to tobacco smoke in utero are 32 percent more likely to have taken psychiatric drugs later in life, suggesting that the incidence of psychiatric illness is more common in this group than among kids born to women who abstain from smoking during pregnancy.

HealthDay News reported May 4 that researchers from Turku University Hospital in Finland also found that use of psychiatric drugs was 44 percent more prevalent among children whose mothers smoked in excess of a pack of cigarettes per day while pregnant.

Children born to smoking mothers were escecially more likely to have used drugs for treating ADHD, depression, and addiction, the study found. Researchers controlled for such factors as gender, birth weight, Apgar scores, and family history of mental illness.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.