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Current Pharmaceutical Design

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1381-6128
ISSN (Online): 1873-4286

Smoking and Congenital Heart Disease: The Epidemiological and Biological Link

Author(s): Emilio Antonio Luca Gianicolo, Monica Cresci, Lamia Ait-Ali, Ilenia Foffa and Maria Grazia Andreassi

Volume 16, Issue 23, 2010

Page: [2572 - 2577] Pages: 6

DOI: 10.2174/138161210792062849

Price: $65

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Abstract

Cigarette smoking is a powerful human germ cell mutagen and teratogen. Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most prevalent of all birth defects and leading cause of death in the first year of life. The purpose of this article is to review the epidemiology of the impact of cigarette smoking on CHD risk as well as to discuss the potential biological mechanisms of smoking – mediated abnormal cardiac development. Although epidemiological studies of association between parental smoking and CHD are limited, biological evidence supports the concept that cigarette smoking may substantially contribute to the aetiology of CHD through induction of either male and female germ-cell mutation or interference with epigenetic pathways. Further research is needed to better define the relationship between parental smoking and the risk of heart defects as well as to assess parental – fetal gene-smoking interactions.

Keywords: Congenital heart defects, parental smoking, pathogenesis


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