NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ¿ Smoking during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of placental abruption, a potentially life-threatening condition for both the mother and foetus, according to a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. With placental abruption, the placenta detaches from the uterus wall prior to birth, resulting in severe bleeding. Depending on the degree of detachment, up to 40 percent of affected infants die. Dr. Cande V. Ananth, from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Dr. Sven Cnattingius, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, investigated whether the effect of maternal smoking on abruption risk is restricted to the pregnancy during which the mother smokes or whether subsequent pregnancies may be affected as well.