Special Concerns About Smoking
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7

SPECIAL CONCERNS ABOUT SMOKING AND...

Pregnant Women

Pregnant women who smoke have a higher rate of miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth. Low birth weight and infections are also more common in newborns whose mothers smoke during pregnancy. Similar complications can also be found among infants on non-smoking women who are regularly exposed to someone else's cigarette smoke during pregnancy.

Infants

Infants who like in a household where someone smokes have more colds, asthma, ear infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia than infants in non-smoking homes. They cough and wheeze more and are twice as likely as newborns from non-smoking homes to be hospitalized for illness before the age of 2. Infants of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Children

Children with a parent who smokes are not only at a higher risk for becoming smokers- they're also much more likely to have childhood health problems. They have more lung illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis. They also are much more likely to cough, have colds, and develop asthma.

Teens

60% of smokers start by age 13. And the younger people are when they start, the more likely they are to become addicted. They're also more likely to become heavy smokers, and die a premature, smoking-related death. Teens also tend to inhale more deeply, smoke more of each cigarette, deny the hazards of smoking, and rationalize their behavior. Most don't think THEY could even become addicted. They don't really understand how HARD it is to stop. In one study of the 12th grade daily smokers, only 5% expected to still be lighting up after 5 years. But almost 75% of them were still smoking 5 to 6 years later.

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