Reliability of self reported smoking status by pregnant women for estimating smoking prevalence: a retrospective, cross sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
To determine what impact reliance on self reported smoking status during pregnancy has on both the accuracy of smoking prevalence figures and access to smoking cessation services for pregnant women in Scotland.


METHODS
Retrospective, cross sectional study of cotinine measurements in stored blood samples.


METHODS
Random sample (n=3475) of the 21 029 pregnant women in the West of Scotland who opted for second trimester prenatal screening over a one year period.


METHODS
Smoking status validated with cotinine measurement by maternal area deprivation category (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation).


RESULTS
Reliance on self reported smoking status underestimated true smoking by 25% (1046/3475 (30%) from cotinine measurement v 839/3475 (24%) from self reporting, z score 8.27, P<0.001). Projected figures suggest that in Scotland more than 2400 pregnant smokers go undetected each year. A greater proportion of smokers in the least deprived areas (deprivation categories 1+2) did not report their smoking (39%) compared with women in the most deprived areas (22% in deprivation categories 4+5), but, because smoking was far more common in the most deprived areas (706 (40%) in deprived areas compared with 142 (14%) in affluent areas), projected figures for Scotland suggest that twice as many women in the most deprived areas are undetected (n=1196) than in the least deprived areas (n=642).


CONCLUSIONS
Reliance on self reporting to identify pregnant smokers significantly underestimates the number of pregnant smokers in Scotland and results in a failure to detect over 2400 smokers each year who are therefore not offered smoking cessation services.
Shipton
Deborah
D
MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow G12 8RZ.
Tappin
David M
DM
Vadiveloo
Thenmalar
T
Crossley
Jennifer A
JA
Aitken
David A
DA
Chalmers
Jim
J
D000328:Adult; D003367:Cotinine / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012907:Smoking / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
D003367:Cotinine