Longitudinal cohort survey of women's smoking behaviour and attitudes in pregnancy: study methods and baseline data.
OBJECTIVE
To report the methods used to assemble a contemporary pregnancy cohort for investigating influences on smoking behaviour before, during and after pregnancy and to report characteristics of women recruited.


METHODS
Longitudinal cohort survey.


METHODS
Two maternity hospitals, Nottingham, England.


METHODS
3265 women who attended antenatal ultrasound scan clinics were offered cohort enrolment; those who were 8-26 weeks pregnant and were currently smoking or had recently stopped smoking were eligible. Cohort enrollment took place between August 2011 and August 2012.


METHODS
Prevalence of smoking at cohort entry and at two follow-up time points (34-36 weeks gestation and 3 months postnatally); response rate, participants' sociodemographic characteristics.


RESULTS
1101 (33.7%, 95% CI 32.1% to 35.4%) women were eligible for inclusion in the cohort, and of these 850 (77.2%, 95% CI 74.6% to 79.6%) were recruited. Within the cohort, 57.4% (N=488, 95% CI 54.1% to 60.7%) reported to be current smokers. Current smokers were significantly younger than ex-smokers (p<0.05), more likely to have no formal qualifications and to not be in current paid employment compared to recent ex-smokers (p<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
This contemporary cohort, which seeks very detailed information on smoking in pregnancy and its determinants, includes women with comparable sociodemographic characteristics to those in other UK cross-sectional studies and cohorts. This suggests that future analyses using this cohort and aimed at understanding smoking behaviour in pregnancy may produce findings that are broadly generalisable.
Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK.
Sophie
S
Orton
Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK.
Katharine
K
Bowker
Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK.
Sue
S
Cooper
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK Behavioural Science Group, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Felix
F
Naughton
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK Division of Population Health Sciences and Education, St. Georges, University of London, London, UK.
Michael
M
Ussher
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
Kate E
KE
Pickett
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Jo
J
Leonardi-Bee
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK Behavioural Science Group, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Stephen
S
Sutton
Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Nafeesa N
NN
Dhalwani
Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, UK National Institute for Health Research, School for Primary Care Research, UK.
Tim
T
Coleman
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Epidemiology; Primary Care; Public Health