Smoking during pregnancy may affect how your child responds to inhale corticosteroids later in life. While we have commonly heard of pregnancy related complications related to tobacco such as increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome and pregnancy problems, such delayed effects are not commonly reported.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, authors examined more than 1000 children with moderate persistent asthma who also participated in the Childhood Asthma Management Program. The study examined whether self-reported tobacco use during pregnancy was related to the effectiveness of inhaled steroids between the ages of 5-12.
The authors found that children with prenatal tobacco smoke exposure had less improvements in airway reactivity after inhaled corticosteroids use, a marker of asthma severity, then children without a tobacco smoke exposure. The exact reason for this finding is not known, but provides further evidence that quitting smoking prior to pregnancy is important for health outcomes.
