Chicago - Male children born to women who smoke during pregnancy run a risk of violent and criminal behaviour that lasts well into adulthood, perhaps because of central nervous system damage, a study published yesterday said.
Researchers at Emory University, Atlanta, said their study - based on a look at the arrest histories up to age 34 of 4,169 males born between 1959 and 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark - was the first to show that the impact lasted beyond adolescence into adulthood.