Ladies, here’s yet another reason to kick the butt — women who smoke during pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, according to a new study.
“It has long been known that autism is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders that impair social and communication skills,” said lead author Prof Amy Kalkbrenner from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“What we are seeing is that some disorders on the autism spectrum, more than others, may be influenced by a factor such as whether a mother smokes during pregnancy,” she was quoted by the ‘Daily Mail’ as saying.
For their study, the researchers looked at a population- based study comparing smoking data from birth certificates of hundreds of thousands of children from 11 states to a database of children diagnosed with autism.
They found that 13 per cent of mothers whose children were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder at the age of eight had smoked during pregnancy. These children were more likely to have high-functioning autism such as Asperger’s Disorder, which has a less severe impact.PTI