[Tobacco smoking as a source of exposure of pregnant women and newborn on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons].

An essential problem related to tobacco smoking is exposure of children in the foetal period and early childhood to toxic compounds. The aim of this paper was to assess the exposure of pregnant women and their newborns to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as a consequence of tobacco smoking. The exposure to tobacco smoke was determined through surveys and cotinine measurement in the urine of pregnant women and newborns, and the exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been determined by measure of 1-hydroxypyrene in the same biological material. The cotinine concentration in the urine of smoking women and their newborns was respectively 416.0 +/- 319.9 ng/mg of creatinine and 46.5 +/- 37.2 ng/mg of creatinine. In case of non-smoking as well as non-exposed patients and their newborns, the concentration of cotinine was 0. The correlation between the concentration of cotinine in the urine of smoking women and their newborns was shown. The mean concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene in the urine of smoking patients was 0.65 +/- 0.45 ng/mg of creatinine, whereas in the urine of newborns, it was 0.46 +/- 0.41 ng/mg of creatinine. The concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene in the urine of smokers was increased together with the increase of cotinine, and the correlation factor was 0.5128. Such dependence was not indicated for concentrations of these compounds in the urine of newborns of these women. Within the group of non-smoking women, the concentration of 1-hydroxypyene urine of women was 0.25 +/- 0.29 ng/mg of creatinine, whereas among children 0.20 +/- 0.23 ng/mg of creatinine. In both examined group (smoking and non-smoking women) there is a dependence between the concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene in the urine of women and their newborns. The research concerning the assessment of exposure of pregnant women and their newborns to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was conducted, and at the same time it was proven, that the placenta does not constitute a barrier for these compounds, which may freely get into the fetus. Probably for the first time a relatively large group of patients took part in this research. The directly proportional dependence between the concentrations of 1-HP in a mother and a newborn and significantly lower concentrations of this biomarker among the persons who are not exposed to tobacco smoke, indicate that the pro-health behaviours of the future mother (no tobacco smoking) significantly lowers the exposure of foetus to the carcinogenic compounds.