Maternal smoking during pregnancy improves the anatomy of the hip joint in the female neonate

Association of secondary sex ratio with smoking and parity

“…During pregnancy, however, smoking exerts an inhibitory effect on E synthesis or on E metabolism to components with a greater estrogenic activity, or it causes an impaired response of target organs to Es; this is maintained in the postpartum period. An antiestrogenic effect of smoking on the fetus was suggested by the finding of our group that maternal smoking during pregnancy caused a reduction in the frequency of hip dysplasia in female neonates to levels that were similar to those observed in male neonates, in whom maternal smoking did not have any evident effect (43).…”

“…Additional evidence of an effect of the tobacco smoke on the endocrine equilibrium of the fetus has been provided by our group in newborns whose mothers smoked during pregnancy (40)(41)(42)(43)(44).…”