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MONDAY, Dec. 24, 2018 (HealthDay News) — For pregnant smokers, vitamin C supplementation may improve newborn lung function, according to a study published online Dec. 7 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Cindy T. McEvoy, M.D., from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial at three centers involving 251 pregnant smokers. Participants were randomly assigned at 13 to 23 weeks of gestation to vitamin C (125 women) or placebo (126 women). The primary outcome was the measurement of forced expiratory flow (FEF) at 75 percent of the expired volume (FEF75<\/sub>) at 3 months of age.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the FEF75<\/sub> of infants of pregnant smokers randomly assigned to vitamin C did not differ compared with that of infants of pregnant smokers randomly assigned to placebo (200.7 versus 188.7 mL\/sec; adjusted 95 percent confidence interval for difference, \u22123.33 to 35.64; P = 0.10); significant differences were seen for FEF50<\/sub> (436.7 versus 408.5 mL\/sec; adjusted 95 percent confidence interval, 6.10 to 61.30; P = 0.02) and FEF25 to 75<\/sub> (387.4 versus 365.8 mL\/sec; adjusted 95 percent confidence interval, 0.92 to 55.34; P = 0.04). There was a negative correlation for infant FEFs with the maternal risk alleles for the \u03b15 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.<\/p>\n “Vitamin C supplementation in pregnant women who cannot quit smoking may be a safe, inexpensive, and simple intervention to improve their offspring’s pulmonary function by blocking some of the effects of in-utero smoke on lung development,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n