The CDC also reported that differences in maternal deaths between black and white women indicate room for improvement. It found that maternal deaths of black women ranged from 18 to 22 per 100,000 births, compared with five to six deaths per 100,000 births for white women. In a related story from the Washington Post, results from a new federal study found babies delivered by certified nurse midwives were significantly less likely to die than those delivered by physicians. The study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, and published in the Journal of Epidemiological and Community Health, was the first to compare infant mortality rate between physician attended births and those births attended by nurse midwives. After ruling our other outside factors, the study looked at 3.9 millions births in 1991.
Pregnant smokers transfer potent carcinogen.
This dangerous substance is also passed on to newborns from the breast milk of mothers who smoke. This new danger is in addition to the harmful effects of both nicotine and carbon monoxide, which are passed on to the unborn fetus of pregnant women who smoke. Nicotine is highly addictive with a long list of adverse health effects while carbon monoxide decreases the amount of oxygen to the body and brain of the developing fetus. It is estimated that tobacco smoke contains 2500 chemical compounds, of which at least 40 are known carcinogens.