Fathers-to-be who smoke could be increasing their child’s risk of a congenital heart defect

New Chinese research has found that fathers-to-be who smoke may be increasing their child's risk of congenital heart defects. Carried out by researchers at Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, the new meta-analysis looked at 125 studies carried out before June 2018, which included a total of 137,574 babies with congenital heart defects and 8.8 million prospective parents. The researchers used the data to investigate the effect of maternal smoking, paternal smoking and passive smoking on the risk of congenital heart defects, which are the leading cause of stillbirth and affect eight in 1,000 babies born worldwide. The findings, published in the...

Keep on reading: Fathers-to-be who smoke could be increasing their child’s risk of a congenital heart defect

from INQUIRER.net https://ift.tt/2uqRn7i