The Fetus and Cigarette Smoke
1 Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen, AB9 2ZA, United Kingdom
To the Editor.
Bureau et al1 recently reported on the carboxyhemoglobin concentrations in fetal cord blood and in blood of mothers who smoked during labor. They considered the possibility of intraerythrocyte alteration of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) values as a compensatory mechanism in fetal blood. A recent study in Aberdeen Maternity Hospital assessed oxygenation parameters in cord blood in a small random obstetric population at term. The parameters studied include cord, arterial, and venous gas analysis and umbilical venous carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate concentrations.




