--- title: Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth and Physical Birth Defects description: Note to expectant fathers: Stop smoking. 7142239 canonical: https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-03-14T23:22:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:10:32.239Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth and Physical Birth Defects og:description: Note to expectant fathers: Stop smoking. 7142239 og:url: https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76c2798b3f82cadd/698a94be47ca3880ec3c3cd9/pregnantbelly.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: pregnantbelly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth and Physical Birth Defects twitter:description: Note to expectant fathers: Stop smoking. 7142239 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76c2798b3f82cadd/698a94be47ca3880ec3c3cd9/pregnantbelly.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth, Birth Defects > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=56fba22d-09e1-4983-880c-dd716aeeb1ed&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Mar 14, 2011 11:22 PM UTC  Sara Wight/Corbis by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Mar 14, 2011 11:22 PM UTC Note to expectant fathers: Stop smoking.more A new review paper by University of Nottingham researchers found that secondhand-smoke exposure increased the risk of stillbirth by 23% in nonsmoking pregnant women, compared with women who were not exposed to smoke at work or at home. Passive smoking also increased the risk of congenital birth defects by 13%. For their meta-analysis, researchers analyzed data from 19 previous studies that assessed the effects of secondhand smoke on pregnancy; the paper is slated to appear in the April issue of the journal _Pediatrics_. The researchers also looked into possible effects of secondhand smoke on miscarriage and newborn death but found no significant correlations. They were also unable to determine the specific stages of pregnancy during which secondhand smoke posed the greatest risk. (**More on Time.com:** [Study: Smoking During Pregnancy May Result in Uncoordinated Kids](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/28/puffing-during-pregnancy-may-result-in-uncoordinated-kids/)) The authors noted that the baby’s father was the source of secondhand-smoke exposure in five of the 19 studies: “These results highlight the importance for smoking prevention and cessation to focus on the father in addition to the mother during the preconception period as well as during pregnancy.” Study author Jo Leonardi-Bee said in a press statement that further research is needed to determine whether paternal smoking affects pregnancy through the sidestream smoke that the mother inhales, or whether the father’s smoking affects his sperm development, or both. (**More on Time.com:** [Study: Moms Who Smoke During Pregnancy Might Have Criminal Kids](http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/16/study-moms-who-smoke-during-pregnancy-might-have-criminal-kids/)) Leonardi-Bee said it takes about 10 cigarettes a day to produce these nasty results, adding, “ultimately though, in the interests of their partner and their unborn child the best option of course would be to give up completely.” **More on Time.com:** [What’s the Best Way to Quit Smoking?](http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/21/whats-the-best-way-to-quit-smoking/) [How Parental Smoking Affects Kids](http://healthland.time.com/2010/06/28/how-parental-smoking-affects-kids/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/"},"headline":"Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth, Birth Defects","datePublished":"2011-03-14T23:22:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:10:32.239Z","description":"Note to expectant fathers: Stop smoking. 7142239","url":"https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/","keywords":["Pregnancy","Smoking","Pregnant"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76c2798b3f82cadd/698a94be47ca3880ec3c3cd9/pregnantbelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76c2798b3f82cadd/698a94be47ca3880ec3c3cd9/pregnantbelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"pregnantbelly","caption":"","creditText":"Sara Wight/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142239/study-secondhand-smoke-increases-risk-of-stillbirth-birth-defects/","name":"Study: Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk of Stillbirth, Birth Defects"}}]}] ```