Table 1.
Maternal characteristics of non-smokers and smokers before pregnancy and of continuers and quitters during pregnancy
| Maternal characteristics |
Total study sample (n = 8344)
|
Women smoking (n = 2944)
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Women not smoking |
Women smoking before pregnancy |
p-value |
Women who continued smoking when pregnant |
Women who quit smoking when pregnant |
p-value |
|
|
(n = 5400) (64.7%) |
(n = 2944) (35.3%) |
|
(n = 771) (26.2%) |
(n = 2173) (73.8%) |
|
|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
|
Region of residency |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Western Europe* |
2240 (41.5) |
954 (32.4) |
<0.001 |
277 (35.9) |
677 (31.2) |
0.014 |
| Northern Europe† |
1922 (35.6) |
893 (30.3) |
|
206 (26.7) |
687 (31.6) |
|
| Eastern Europe§ |
1238 (22.9) |
1097 (37.3) |
|
288 (37.4) |
809 (37.2) |
|
|
Maternal age |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ≤ 20 |
95 (1.8) |
151 (5.1) |
<0.001 |
51 (6.6) |
100 (4.6) |
0.051 |
| 21-30 |
2802 (51.9) |
1777 (60.4) |
|
459 (59.5) |
1318 (60.7) |
|
| 31-40 |
2375 (44.0) |
976 (33.2) |
|
246 (31.9) |
730 (33.6) |
|
| > 40 |
128 (2.4) |
40 (1.4) |
|
15 (1.9) |
25 (1.2) |
|
|
Marital status |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Married/cohabiting |
5232 (96.9) |
2694 (91.5) |
<0.001 |
668 (86.6) |
2026 (93.2) |
<0.001 |
| Other |
168 (3.1) |
250 (8.5) |
|
103 (13.4) |
147 (6.8) |
|
|
Highest education level |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Less than high school |
147 (2.7) |
220 (7.5) |
<0.001 |
95 (12.3) |
125 (5.8) |
<0.001 |
| High school |
1360 (25.2) |
1014 (34.4) |
|
348 (45.1) |
666 (30.6) |
|
| More than high school |
3260 (60.4) |
1366 (46.4) |
|
230 (29.8) |
1136 (52.3) |
|
| Other |
633 (11.7) |
344 (11.7) |
|
98 (12.7) |
246 (11.3) |
|
|
Health literacy** |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Low |
264 (5.0) |
215 (7.4) |
<0.001 |
74 (9.8) |
141 (6.6) |
0.015 |
| Medium |
2113 (39.7) |
1372 (47.4) |
|
349 (46.3) |
1023 (47.8) |
|
| High |
2943 (55.3) |
1305 (45.1) |
|
331 (43.9) |
974 (45.6) |
|
|
Working status |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Employed (not as HCP) |
3273 (60.7) |
1755 (59.7) |
<0.001 |
418 (54.4) |
1337 (61.6) |
<0.001 |
| Healthcare personnel (HCP) |
772 (14.3) |
349 (11.9) |
|
73 (9.5) |
276 (12.7) |
|
| Housewife |
449 (8.3) |
208 (7.1) |
|
82 (10.7) |
126 (5.8) |
|
| Other |
898 (16.7) |
629 (21.4) |
|
196 (25.5) |
433 (19.9) |
|
|
First language |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Same as in country of residency |
5071 (94.1) |
2795 (95.2) |
0.047 |
733 (95.3) |
2062 (95.1) |
0.894 |
| Other |
318 (5.9) |
142 (4.8) |
|
36 (4.7) |
106 (4.9) |
|
|
Previous children |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| No |
2633 (48.8) |
1617 (54.9) |
<0.001 |
385 (49.9) |
1232 (56.7) |
0.001 |
| Yes |
2767 (51.2) |
1327 (45.1) |
|
386 (50.1) |
941 (43.3) |
|
|
Morbidity not incl. RD†† |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes |
541 (18.4) |
941 (17.4) |
0.291 |
157 (20.4) |
384 (17.7) |
0.109 |
| No |
2403 (81.6) |
4459 (82.6) |
|
614 (79.6) |
1789 (82.3) |
|
|
Respiratory disease§§ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes |
306 (10.4) |
603 (11.2) |
0.296 |
71 (9.2) |
235 (10.8) |
0.235 |
| No |
2638 (89.6) |
4797 (88.8) |
|
700 (90.8) |
1938 (89.2) |
|
|
Planned pregnancy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes/not completely unexpected |
5002 (93.0) |
2606 (88.7) |
<0.001 |
647 (84.0) |
1959 (90.3) |
<0.001 |
| No, it was not planned |
377 (7.0) |
333 (11.3) |
|
123 (16.0) |
210 (9.7) |
|
|
Folic acid use*† |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes |
5022 (93.5) |
2600 (89.2) |
<0.001 |
642 (84.9) |
1958 (90.7) |
<0.001 |
| No |
347 (6.5) |
314 (10.8) |
|
114 (15.1) |
200 (9.3) |
|
|
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes |
790 (14.8) |
527 (18.0) |
<0.001 |
154 (20.1) |
373 (17.3) |
0.090 |
| No | 4556 (85.2) | 2398 (82.0) | 612 (79.9) | 1786 (82.7) | ||
HCP = health care provider; RD = respiratory disease.
Numbers may not add up to total due to missing values. For Folic acid use and Alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the response ‘cannot remember’ was treated as a missing value. Missing values are less than 5% of the total.
*Includes Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom.
†Includes Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden.
§Includes Croatia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia.
**Measured by a self-assessment scale comprising three questions corresponding to the set of brief screening questions (SBSQ) developed to detect inadequate or marginal health literacy in clinical settings [26,27].
††Includes the presence of a chronic disease (hypothyroidism, rheumatic diseases (incl. rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis), diabetes (type I or II), epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases (incl. hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart diseases) or others (open-ended option)).
§§Includes the presence of asthma, allergy, rhinitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis, or other respiratory tract conditions.
*†Indicates folic acid use before and/or during pregnancy.