A premature baby’s brain development and sleep patterns can be affected if prenatal exposure to smoking is high, reveals a new study.

According to the results, preterm neonates born to heavy-smoking mothers who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day lead to disrupted sleep structure and sleep continuity-from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. they slept almost two hours less than controls who were born to non-smoking mothers, and their sleep was more fragmented.

As compared with controls, neonates born to both heavy and low smokers displayed more body movements and, as a result, more disturbed sleep.

Frederic Telliez, principal investigator, and professor of neuroscience at the University of Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens, France said that sleep integrity is critical in the brain development of neonates.

Also, he said that the disruption of sleep mechanisms by prenatal smoking exposure may predispose neonates to alterations in some physiological function (such as ventilation) and can result in long-term neurocognitive disorders.

The authors said that abnormal sleep processes might alter compensatory responses to autonomic cardiovascular/respiratory challenge and increase the likelihood of life-threatening events later in life.

Prenatal smoking exposure can lead to deficits in sustained attention and impulsivity in adolescence and a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in childhood.

Such effects could be partially mediated by sleep changes. Prenatal smoking exposure is also highly related to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).