Mercelina-Roumans P E, Ubachs J M, van Wersch J W
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, De Wever Hospital, Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1997 Mar;176(3):662-6. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(97)70566-0.
Our purpose was to determine the effect of smoking during pregnancy on neonatal hemostasis.
Venous blood samples of 26 newborns of smoking and 25 newborns of nonsmoking mothers were obtained from the clamped umbilical cord immediately after birth. Prothrombin fragment 1+2, thrombin-antithrombin III complex, plasmin-alpha2-antiplasmin complex, and D-dimer levels were determined to assess activation of coagulation and fibrinolysis. Cotinine was measured in all neonates to objectify cigarette smoke exposure. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the values of the parameters of coagulation and fibrinolysis in the two groups at the p < 0.05 level.
The median values of prothrombin fragment 1+2 and thrombin-antithrombin III complex in newborns exposed to tobacco smoke in utero did not differ from values of newborns who were not exposed. Nor were the markers of fibrinolysis, plasmin-alpha2-antiplasmin complex and D-dimer levels, influenced by tobacco smoke exposure.
The balance between the components of coagulation and fibrinolytic pathways in neonates is not disturbed by maternal smoking.
