Prenatal Nicotine Exposure and Pulmonary Barotrauma of Newborns

Smoking in adults increases the relative risk of contracting spontaneous pneumothorax, a form of pulmonary barotrauma. Maternal smoking habits affect the fetus. Pregnant females attend the antenatal clinic at the 8th to 12th weeks of pregnancy. There is a participation rate of 99% of all births in Sweden. Their smoking habits were registered at this stage. This study supported the hypothesis that the registered maternal smoking habits covariated with the risk of contracting pulmonary barotrauma in newborn infants. The infants of smokers do not seem to be at higher risk (95% C.I. of RR: 0.78–0.99) for contracting pulmonary barotrauma than those of nonsmokers. Thus far, the hypothesis is even rejected at the 5% significance level. However, after considering other factors, especially mothers education, it seems to be an open question whether or not a weak covariation is present. Newborn boys run almost twice the risk of contracting pulmonary barotrauma than girls. Furthermore, we found an increased risk for contracting pulmonary barotrauma in the subcohort of newborns whose mothers smoking habits were not reported.