Mums-to-be who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of their baby developing Tourette’s syndrome

MUMS-TO-BE who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of their children developing Tourette's syndrome, new research shows.

The neurological condition affects the brain and nervous system and causes involuntary noises and movements called tics.

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In some cases the person repeatedly swears.

Scientists found the more women were exposed to nicotine the greater chance they had of having a child affected by the mental illness.

Smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day during pregnancy caused a 66 per cent increase in the risk for chronic tic disorders in the child.

Professor Dorothy Grice, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, said: "Our study shows an important role for maternal prenatal smoking in risk for both simple and complex chronic tic disorders in children."

Families with children who have Tourette's often need support to cope with the physically and socially debilitating condition.

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Incurable, it runs in families and is five times more likely to affect boys.

It usually starts during childhood and continues into adulthood.

It is often associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Pregnant women who smoke may have a higher chance of having a psychiatric disorder themselves, increasing the risk of behavioural problems being passed on genetically.

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Maternal smoking is also associated with premature birth and lower birth weight, which may also be a risk factor for subsequent behavioral problems in the child.

For the study Grice analysed 73,073 pregnancies from the Danish National Birth Cohort and the Danish national health registers.

Smoking during pregnancy has been blamed for 5,000 miscarriages a year in the UK.

Previous research has found for every cigarette smoked a day, the risk rises by one per cent. It also raises the risk of birth defects such as cleft palate of cleft lip.

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