3. Smoking during pregnancy
Another potential cause of neuroblastoma is smoking during pregnancy. Mothers who smoke while they are pregnant increase the odds that their child will suffer from birth defects or even other conditions long after their birth. There has been a correlation between mothers smoking during pregnancy and their children developing heart disease sometime throughout the course of their life.
Among the myriad of conditions that could be caused by this, neuroblastoma appears to be one of them. An ongoing study is showing evidence that the odds of developing neuroblastoma can be significantly increased due to the mother smoking during pregnancy.
The researches suspect that this is due to the fact that fetuses aren’t meant to be exposed to carcinogens during their development stage, and cigarettes — as well as other tobacco products — could impact their healthy growth. While the studies are yet to produce a conclusive result, it’s important to avoid smoking during pregnancy.