Smoking and pregnancy: prevalence, knowledge, anthropometry, risk communication.
Information about smoking impact on pregnancy as well as clear advice to stop and a treatment offer should be included into the health care of pregnant women. We contacted them within the first 3 days after delivery. In the sample of 265 women 23.8% (63/265) smoked during their pregnancy (51.9% with basic education only, 25.8% with high school and 5.0% with university education), and 7% of the sample (19/265) did not quit by the delivery. Only 68% of smokers (43/63) were asked about their smoking habits during the pregnancy by their gynaecologist, and both smokers and non-smokers had insufficient information about the impact of smoking on their baby (40% of smokers and 32% of non-smokers had no idea at all), the doctor was the source of this kind of information only in 5% (13/265) cases. Smokers' children had a lower average birth weight (3.084 g in smokers vs. 3.325 g in non-smokers, p=0.02) and were smaller (49.3 cm vs. 50.5 cm respectively, p=0.02). Smokers' bodyweight increased more than non-smokers' during their pregnancy (gaining 14.8 kg vs. 12.9 kg respectively, p=0.02), they also underwent the delivery at a lower age (27.6 vs. 30.0 years respectively, p<0.01) and after a non-significantly shorter duration of pregnancy (38.7 weeks vs. 39.0 weeks respectively, p=0.53). If 23.8% of pregnant women smoke and 90.6% of them would like to stop, it is a missed opportunity for education and treatment of tobacco dependence by their physicians.
Králíková
E
E
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Third Medical Department of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, and the General Teaching Hospital, Czech Republic. eva.kralikova@lf1.cuni.cz
Bajerová
J
J
Raslová
N
N
Rames
J
J
Himmerová
V
V
D001724:Birth Weight; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology