Nicotine’s Harm on Pregnancy and Fertility

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Literature Review
Research Question
Methodology
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Nowadays, the problem of smoking is one of the bad habits, which has adverse consequences on the health and mental condition of an individual while being widespread in the modern world (Proschanka 2011). Despite the pernicious effects on the health and sufficient functioning of the organism, smoking does not lose its position as being popular among women (Perkins 2006; Bordel et al. 2006).

In this instance, nicotine is viewed as an active component, which causes changes in the body and functioning of the organs of an individual (Perkins 2006; Bordel et al. 2006). Consequently, critical attention has to be paid to the development of this aspect during pregnancy, as it alters the flow of the advancement of a future child while being a reason for the psychological and physical illnesses in the future (Knopik et al. 2012). Meanwhile, the impact of smoking on fertility cannot be underestimated, and the absence of profound research related to this topic underlines its necessity and originality in the context of this case.

Consequently, the primary goal of this paper is to offer insights into the correlation between pregnancy and smoking while depicting it from scientific and practitioner perspectives. In this case, the literature review is used to portray a gap in knowledge in the existing literature. Meanwhile, based on the acquired knowledge the research question was formulated and tends to discuss the potential effect of smoking on fertility.

In turn, the methodology and sampling of the future study were determined to conduct a sufficient analysis in the future. In the end, the conclusions were drawn to summarize the critical findings of the paper while depicting the implications of the outcomes and originality of the study.

Literature Review

In the context of this section, it is vital to assess the readings, which tend to cover this topic while depicting their drawbacks and advantages, which will have a beneficial impact on the proposed research topic. In this instance, the selected articles tend to cover the aspects related to pregnancy, smoking, and the correlation of these components to fertility.

Nonetheless, it is vital to highlight the gaps in knowledge related to the selected topic of the research while depicting the essentiality of the understanding of the negative consequences to women’s health and fertility. In this case, the various databases and academic journals were used to cover the chosen topic from the selected perspectives, as this approach will reveal the concepts of pregnancy, smoking, nicotine, and fertility.

The article The Effects of Nicotine of Fetal Human Development by Holbrook addresses the issues associated with maternal smoking and fetus development while referring to the disruptive nature of the nicotine (Holbrook 2016). Meanwhile, Holbrook highlights that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy results in malfunction of different organ systems and has adverse effects on mental stability while being reflected in the form of ADHD and various aggressive emotional responses (Holbrook 2016). The infants have a tendency to experience difficulties in cognitive development in comparison to the children of the same age (Holbrook 2016).

Nonetheless, the primary coverage of the topic is the possibility of usage of electronic cigarettes while being pregnant, and this article determines that this approach cannot be regarded as an alternative (Holbrook 2016). Based on the factors provided above, the reading tends to provide insights about the impact of smoking on the development of the fetus while depicting adverse consequences, which an infant might face after birth. Meanwhile, it tends to assess the alternatives to smoking and their appropriateness during pregnancy. Nonetheless, despite the clarity and logical rationale of the provided findings, the publication does not cover the correlation of this bad habit to the woman’s fertility, and this aspect underlines the necessity of research of the chosen sphere.

Furthermore, the publication Effects of Tobacco Smoking in Pregnancy on Offspring Intelligence at the Age of 5 by Eriksen, Kesmodel, Wimberley, Underbjerg, Kilburn, and Mortensen discovers the outcomes of smoking in the long-term while focusing of the measuring of IQ of the children of five years old with smoking mothers (Eriksen et al. 2012). This study portrays that smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day affects the scores adversely while the adjustment to the background of the families did not alter these findings (Eriksen et al. 2012). In this case, it could be highlighted that the publication offers new insights about the topic while emphasizing the consequences in the long-term. In this case, this fact underlines the necessity to pay substantial attention to women’s health, as it is not covered in this research.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Health and Human Services tends to emphasize that smoking has an undesirable effect on both a woman and fetus, as it might be regarded as one of the potential causes of miscarriage, facing obstacles while getting pregnant, a pregnancy outside the womb, stillbirth, and death of an infant (2016). In this case, the consequences of smoking are discovered as a potential reason for the woman’s infertility due to the negative effect of components on the functioning of the hormones and systems of the female organism (The US Department of Health and Human Services 2016).

Despite the thoughtful and reflective description of all the stated aspects, it could be said that this publication lacks to provide a deep analysis of the correlation between smoking and fertility while using the generalization as the primary instrument. This fact underlines the necessity of conducting the research to discover the connection between nicotine and infertility among women.

In turn, the article The Epigenetics of Maternal Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy and Effects on Child Development by Knopik, Maccani, Francazio, and McGeary tends to focus on the ability of the smoke to influence the structure of the DNA of the fetus while causing irreversible alterations to the health of the future child (Knopik et al. 2012). It could be said that this article discovers the issue from the genetic perspective while depicting that it has a negative impact on the development of the child (Knopik et al. 2012).

In turn, this emphasis is the primary limitation of the study, as it does not provide information about the topic from different angles while emphasizing the need for future research.

Lastly, some of the articles focus on the issues of fertility, as it is one of the critical problems associated with smoking. For instance, the article Nicotine Does not Affect Vascularization but Inhibits Growth of Freely Transplanted Ovarian Follicles by Inducing Granulosa Cell Apoptosis by Bordel, Laschke, Menger, and Vollmar highlight that nicotine has an impact on the ovulation and reproductive function (Bordel et al. 2006).

This aspect has a link with the follicular cell, and it emphasizes the connection between smoking and issues with fertility (Bordel et al. 2006). It could be stated that this publication reveals the understanding of the correlation between smoking and fertility and emphasizes its importance to women’s health. Nevertheless, the continuation of the research is a requirement, as the popularity of smoking has a tendency to grow while influencing female’s fertility unfavorably, and the article is outdated.

In the end, it could be said that despite the profound analysis of the topic depicted in the readings, the gap in knowledge has a tendency to exist, as the presented publications tend to be limited to the particular timeframe or have limited coverage of the topic. The selected articles focus on smoking and its effect on the development of the infant and child in the long-term. Meanwhile, some of the articles chosen for the literature review cover the issue of infertility while portraying its connection to nicotine and smoking. Nonetheless, it offers a general understanding of the topic, and development of the profound methodology remains a need.

Research Question

Based on the findings of the literature provided above, it was revealed that the publications and articles have a tendency to have limitations, which have an adverse impact on the understanding of the presented topic while finding an answer to the research question. It was revealed that the majority of the journals have a tendency to focus on the adverse influence on the development of the child due to the changes in the structure of DNA during the pregnancy period.

This topic is highly valuable to the research study, as it depicts the necessity in future research and determines the negative outcomes of smoking on the fetus. Meanwhile, some of the readings cover the issue with female smoking, nicotine, and women’s health, but they tend to have limitations related to the research methods. Nonetheless, despite the clarity and profound coverage of the topics displayed in the literature review sections, the studies lack the explanation about the negative impacts on the female’s fertility.

In this instance, the research question can be formulated as ‘Does nicotine and smoking have an adverse impact on women’s fertility?’. The inquiry has been developed previously, but it lacks sufficient research about the topic and underlines the necessity of the continuation of the study in the desired field. It remains apparent that the subject is novel and original, as the literature review revealed the lack of research associated with finding the correlation between smoking and fertility.

Methodology

The critical goal of this section is to discuss the relevance of the methodological methods and sampling strategies to ensure the possibility to find an answer to the proposed research questions. It remains apparent that qualitative and quantitative research are often used during the research studies to present the topic from dissimilar angles while referring to the various sources of information. In this case, the research methodologies and approaches have to be determined, and the appropriate and suitable research study has to be proposed in the context of the presented case.

The quantitative research is one of the most common methods used to test the hypothesis while using descriptions to portray the findings (Silverman 2016). This research methodology tends to make estimations and determine the trends and behavioral patterns while acquiring the information with the help of the interviews, observations, and focus groups (Silverman 2016). In this instance, it contributes to discovering the problem from dissimilar perspectives and determining a profound understanding of the research topic by conducting the semi-structured interviews with the selected participants of the study. Nonetheless, the findings and outcomes to be biased due to the objective opinion of the researcher and the prejudiced interpretations of the results.

As for quantitative research, this approach has a tendency to use statistical and numerical data to design trends and establish particular tendencies related to the research question (Watzlavik & Born 2007). In this instance, surveys and statistics are used to acquire the required information to form an understanding of the preferences and facts related to the topic (Watzlavik & Born 2007). It could be said that this approach assists in describing the primary tendencies presented in the research topic, but the absence of the details is the main drawback of this research study. In the context of the offered case, it can be utilized to gather statistical information as a background study to determine the key aspects related to the topic.

In turn, the literature review could be regarded as an additional source of knowledge to increase the awareness of the subject, as it will contribute to the understanding of the topic and underlining the necessity of the research in the selected field. It could be said that this qualitative research methodology will have a beneficial impact on the assessment of the background evidence to the presented topic while underlining the gaps of knowledge, limitations of the studies, and the necessity to conduct future research. In this case, the generalization of the information about the connection of fertility and smoking will affect the understanding of the theme advantageously.

Based on the factors provided above, the chosen method is the qualitative interviews while selected the women who experience the issues with fertility will be interviewed to acquire novel information about the connection between infertility and smoking. The questions will cover the following topics such as issues with fertility, general health conditions, and previous pregnancies. In this case, the concept of semi-structured interviews is used to gather information from the participants, as it allows adapting the flow of conversation, discussion, and questions depending on the responses of the interviewee.

As for the sampling, the relevant sampling methodology has to be introduced to ensure acquiring the data from different perspectives and findings a critical and appropriate solution to the research question. In this case, the stratified sampling method will be applied, as it will ensure the coverage of different racial groups and ages to avoid the limitations, which were emphasized in the past Nonetheless, the primary participants (20) will be selected based on the results of the official medical examination and have a need to smoke as a bad habit. Meanwhile, the respondents to the semi-structured interview have to be females, as the initial goal of the study is to assess the consequences of nicotine on women’s fertility.

Lastly, the specialized software will be utilized as an instrument to evaluate the results, analyze the findings, and determine the answer to the research question. The information will be classified by using different criteria such as age, location, and ethnicity while describing each group of participants individually. In the end, it could be concluded that the proposed research methods have to be utilized as a sequence of steps to ensure the coverage of the topic with supportive qualitative and quantitative data.

The usage of qualitative and quantitative methods are used to discover the issue profoundly to find the answer to the research question while providing background knowledge and critical information.

Conclusion

In the end, the overall paper revealed and emphasized that smoking has an adverse impact on pregnancy and its outcomes. Meanwhile, nicotine is detected as a primary active component, which determines influence the development of the fetus adversely while causing the introduction of an organ’s anomalies. In the context of the presented case, the literature review contributed to the understanding that the topic is not fully discovered yet, as the majority of the articles tend to cover the topic from one angle only while having a substantial number of limitations.

It is evident that the research question is not fully described due to the novelty and originality of the select perspective of the correlation between smoking and fertility. The semi-structured interviews will be applied as a primary research method to understand the connection between the attributes mentioned above.

It could be said that the proposed topic could have a beneficial influence on the functioning of the medical facilities while playing the role of the educator to prevent the females from smoking while being pregnant. Expansion of the knowledge in the selected issue will have a positive impact on the fertility of the women and increases the possibilities of pregnancy. This approach will contribute to the minimization of the impact of the negative consequences on the infants and fertility while creating the perception of smoking as a negative action. It could be said that the matters mentioned above underline the necessity to conduct the study due to the novelty and originality of the topic and its positive influence on overall female’s health.

Reference List

Bordel, R, Laschke, M, Menger, M & Vollmar, D 2006, ‘Nicotine does not affect vascularization but inhibits growth of freely transplanted ovarian follicles by inducing granulosa cell apoptosis’, Human Reproduction, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 610-617.

Eriksen, H, Kesmodel, U, Wimberley, T, Underbjerg, M Kilburn, T & Mortensen E 2012, ‘Effects of tobacco smoking in pregnancy on offspring intelligence at the age of 5’, Journal of Pregnancy, vol. 2013, pp. 1-9.

Holbrook, B 2016, The effects of nicotine of fetal human development, Birth Defects Research: Part C.

Knopik, V, Maccani, M, Francazio S, & McGeary, J 2012, The epigenetics of maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and effects on child development, Development and Psychopathology, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1377-1390.

Perkins, K 2006, ‘Treatment of nicotine dependence in women’, in K Brady, S Back & S Greenfield (eds), Women and addiction: a comprehensive handbook, The Guildford Press, New York, pp. 360-379.

Proschanka, J 2011, ‘Smoking and mental illness – breaking the link’, The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 365, pp. 196-198.

Silverman, D 2016, Qualitative research, SAGE Publishers, Thousand Oaks.

The US Department of Health and Human Services 2016, Smoking and pregnancy. Web.

Watzlavik, M & Born, A 2007, Capturing identity: quantitative and qualitative methods, University Press of America, Lanham.

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