Smoking among pregnant women in small towns in Poland.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the work was to assess among pregnant women from small towns and villages in Poland: the prevalence of smoking, credibility of smoking, and influence of socioeconomic factors on smoking status.


METHODS
The data came from 4512 interviews with women in different trimesters of pregnancy. The interviews were collected in 2007 and 2008 year in towns up to 8000 citizens in 12 voivodeships.


RESULTS
Prevalence of smoking in the beginning of pregnancy was confirmed by 34.6 % of women. During the pregnancy 14.7 % of women declared quitting smoking and 19.9 % continued smoking. Cigarette smoking was most frequent in those with a primary education, unemployed, very low incomes in household, and having both smoking parents. In multifactorial analysis, risk of smoking was highest (95 % CI 1.74-6.06) for women that were divorced or not living with a partner compared with married.


CONCLUSIONS
Rates of active smoking among a population of pregnant women living in small towns in Poland are very high. Since the correlates of smoking during pregnancy are a low education level and a low economic status of the pregnant woman, these socioeconomic groups should be first priority targets.
Department of Public Health and Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland. balwicki@gumed.edu.pl.
Łukasz
Ł
Balwicki
Department of Public Health and Social Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
M
M
Zarzeczna-Baran
Department of Preventive Medicine and Education, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
Ł
Ł
Wierucki
Polish National Health Fund, Warsaw, Poland.
T
T
Jędrzejczyk
Department of Obstetric and Gynaecological Nursing, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
M
M
Strahl
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
M
M
Wrotkowska
Department of Heath Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, USA.
M L
ML
Goniewicz
Department of Preventive Medicine and Education, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdańsk, Poland.
T
T
Zdrojewski
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Epidemiology; Pregnancy; Smoking; Smoking cessation