Skip to main content
PMC home page
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal logoLink to CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal
. 1995 Jan 15;152(2):185–190.

Prevalence of smoking among pregnant women in Nova Scotia from 1988 to 1992.

L Dodds 1
PMCID: PMC1337573  PMID: 7820800

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in Nova Scotia and to identify women at high risk of smoking during pregnancy. DESIGN: Population-based descriptive study. SETTING: All hospitals providing obstetric services in Nova Scotia. PATIENTS: All 60 754 women residing in Nova Scotia who had a baby in hospital between 1988 and 1992; smoking data were available for 57,750 (95.1%) of them. OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of women who smoked during pregnancy and the maternal smoking rates by age, marital status, parity, attendance at prenatal classes and residence. RESULTS: Overall, 32.4% of the women smoked at some point during their pregnancy. The rate was highest among the women less than 20 years of age (47.0%) and decreased with each increasing 5-year age interval. Overall, the unmarried women were 2.1 times as likely to smoke as the married women. The smoking rates were highest among the women who were para 3 or greater regardless of age (women less than 20 were excluded here, since very few had such a parity). Of the nulliparous women, those who attended prenatal classes were less likely to smoke during pregnancy than those who did not attend. There was no relation between urban or rural residence and smoking rates. The smoking rates decreased little between 1988 and 1992 and in fact increased among the women 35 and over and among those who were para 3 or greater. CONCLUSIONS: The smoking rates among pregnant women in Nova Scotia changed little between 1988 and 1992. Therefore, it seems that current strategies for smoking cessation have not been successful. Since prenatal classes are more likely to attract nonsmokers than smokers, other avenues for education and cessation are necessary.

Full text

PDF
188

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Butler N. R., Goldstein H., Ross E. M. Cigarette smoking in pregnancy: its influence on birth weight and perinatal mortality. Br Med J. 1972 Apr 15;2(5806):127–130. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5806.127. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cnattingius S., Thorslund M. Smoking behaviour among pregnant women prior to antenatal care registration. Soc Sci Med. 1990;31(11):1271–1275. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90135-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Fingerhut L. A., Kleinman J. C., Kendrick J. S. Smoking before, during, and after pregnancy. Am J Public Health. 1990 May;80(5):541–544. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.5.541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hebel J. R., Fox N. L., Sexton M. Dose-response of birth weight to various measures of maternal smoking during pregnancy. J Clin Epidemiol. 1988;41(5):483–489. doi: 10.1016/0895-4356(88)90050-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kleinman J. C., Pierre M. B., Jr, Madans J. H., Land G. H., Schramm W. F. The effects of maternal smoking on fetal and infant mortality. Am J Epidemiol. 1988 Feb;127(2):274–282. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kramer M. S. Determinants of low birth weight: methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ. 1987;65(5):663–737. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lumley J. Stopping smoking. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1987 Apr;94(4):289–292. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1987.tb03092.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. MacArthur C., Newton J. R., Knox E. G. Effect of anti-smoking health education on infant size at birth: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1987 Apr;94(4):295–300. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1987.tb03094.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mathai M., Skinner A., Lawton K., Weindling A. M. Maternal smoking, urinary cotinine levels and birth-weight. Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol. 1990 Feb;30(1):33–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1479-828x.1990.tb03192.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Milham S., Jr, Davis R. L. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy and mother's occupation. J Occup Med. 1991 Apr;33(4):468–473. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prager K., Malin H., Spiegler D., Van Natta P., Placek P. J. Smoking and drinking behavior before and during pregnancy of married mothers of live-born infants and stillborn infants. Public Health Rep. 1984 Mar-Apr;99(2):117–127. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sexton M., Hebel J. R. A clinical trial of change in maternal smoking and its effect on birth weight. JAMA. 1984 Feb 17;251(7):911–915. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Shiono P. H., Klebanoff M. A., Rhoads G. G. Smoking and drinking during pregnancy. Their effects on preterm birth. JAMA. 1986 Jan 3;255(1):82–84. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stewart P. J., Dunkley G. C. Smoking and health care patterns among pregnant women. CMAJ. 1985 Nov 15;133(10):989–994. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Stockbauer J. W., Land G. H. Changes in characteristics of women who smoke during pregnancy: Missouri, 1978-88. Public Health Rep. 1991 Jan-Feb;106(1):52–58. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tollestrup K., Frost F. J., Starzyk P. Smoking prevalence of pregnant women compared to women in the general population of Washington State. Am J Prev Med. 1992 Jul-Aug;8(4):215–220. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Williamson D. F., Serdula M. K., Kendrick J. S., Binkin N. J. Comparing the prevalence of smoking in pregnant and nonpregnant women, 1985 to 1986. JAMA. 1989 Jan 6;261(1):70–74. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal are provided here courtesy of Canadian Medical Association

RESOURCES