- A newly published study found that on average children exposed to high levels of nicotine in utero scored 21 percent lower in areas such as reading speed, single-word identification, spelling, accuracy, real and non-word reading, and reading as compared to classmates born to non-smoking mothers. http://scitechdaily.com/children-exposed-to-nicotine-in-utero-have-lower-reading-scores/ 634 comments science