Acute effects of cigarette smoking on pregnant women and nonpregnant control subjects

The effect of cigarette smoking on the pulse rate and carboxyhemoglobin concentration of the pregnant smoker was studied. The aim of this investigation was threefold: (1) to standardize cigarette consumption for studying short-term smoking effects in pregnant smokers, (2) to test for these effects by use of two noninvasive measures (concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in expired air and digital pulse rate), and (3) to compare the acute effects evidenced by pregnant smokers to those of a carefully matched group of nonpregnant control subjects. Increases in pulse rate and concentration of carboxyhemoglobin were found to be positively correlated with the level of intake of nicotine and concentration of inhaled mainstream smoke, respectively. The results, however, showed no evidence of significant differences between the pregnant and nonpregnant groups on either of the smoking measures. The methodologic implications of these findings are discussed.