- Our findings suggest that women who smoke during pregnancy run the risk of harming the child's motor ability. There may be several reasons behind this. The nicotine interacts with acetylcholine, which is an important neurotransmitter and messenger when the brain is developing during the foetal stage. But it might also be the case that the mother's smoking leads to a form of foetal malnutrition, says Matz Larsson.
- We believe this is an interesting study as it is based on physical tests rather than cognitive, which are dependent on, for example, elements of learning. That makes our results less sensitive to the influence of social and economic factors. Other factors linked to the mother's smoking may still have affected the result, but the difference in motor abilities remained even after a check for such factors, says Scott Montgomery.
- These findings also help us to understand why neurological function in childhood is linked with adverse health outcomes in later life such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, as these are also associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy. In addition, it is important to take note of even a slight impairment in childhood. Quite often it can be linked to a more rapid decline in motor function and health later on in life, says Scott Montgomery.
SOURCE ?śrebro University, Sweden