Cytogenetic evaluation of pre-pregnancy smoking in maternal and newborn lymphocytes.

Objective: To study cytogenetic damage in order to estimate the effect of pre-pregnancy smoking on pregnant women and their foetuses.

Study Design: Lymphocyte cultures were obtained from peripheral blood of 20 women who quit smoking during pregnancy, and umbilical cord blood of their newborns at delivery. Cytogenetic analyses were performed for sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), proliferation rate index (PRI) and mitotic index (MI) using the Fluorescence Plus Giemsa staining technique.

Interpregnancy interval and the risk of preterm birth in Thrace, Greece.

Objective: To examine the influence of short interpregnancy interval on the prevalence of preterm birth in two, ethically different, Greek populations.

Study Design: We studied 652 urban Christian women and 578 rural, Romany, Muslim women who had had two consecutive, singleton pregnancies. We related the prevalence of preterm birth to the interpregnancy intervals (cut-off point, 6 months).