Warning about smoking, being overweight while pregnant

January 31, 2012 (CHICAGO)

The combination apparently more than doubles the risk of heart damage in newborns.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that smoking and being overweight during pregnancy are associated with problems such as miscarriage and stillbirth, stunted growth, and premature birth.

Heart abnormalities are one of the most common kinds of birth defects, affecting about eight in every 1,000 babies.

The study appears in the journal Heart.

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