Prenatal smoking cessation among Black and White women in Eastern North Carolina.
OBJECTIVE
Limited information is available about Black:White disparities in prenatal smoking cessation, and the results of prior research are inconsistent. We analyzed smoking cessation and factors associated with cessation (attitudes, environment, and nicotine addiction) in a sample of pregnant Black and White women.


METHODS
Women were interviewed at the first prenatal visit at two hospital-based clinics.


RESULTS
Among former and current smokers, there were no significant differences in the percentage of former smokers between Black (46.8%) and White (43.3%) pregnant women, or in the percentage of "spontaneous quitters" (i.e., those who quit after learning that they were pregnant) for Blacks (36%) and Whites (28%). Both Black and White spontaneous quitters had evidence of occasional relapses to smoking. For Black and White women, smoking more than a pack a day prior to pregnancy was associated with smoking during pregnancy.


CONCLUSIONS
Among current and former smokers, spontaneous cessation was about the same for Black and White women, and about two thirds of women who were smokers when they learned of the pregnancy continued to smoke during pregnancy. Nicotine addiction contributed to continued smoking.
Orr
Suezanne T
ST
Department of Health Education and Promotion, College of Health and Human Performance, East Carolina University, Christenbury 200, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. orrs@mail.ecu.edu
Newton
Edward R
ER
Weismiller
David G
DG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009657:North Carolina; D011247:Pregnancy; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D044465:White People