Table II.
Characteristics of women who quit smoking while pregnant and those who smoke during early pregnancy (means and standard deviation [SD] in parentheses, and percentage and absolute figures within parentheses respectively).
| Stopped smoking during pregnancy (n = 170) | Smoked during early pregnancy (n = 53) | p-values | |
| Number of cigarettes per day before pregnancy; mean (SD) | 8 (5.3) | 15 (5.2) | < 0.001 |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 28 (4.8) | 28 (6.0) | 0.466 |
| Multiparous | 48 (82/170) | 60 (32/53) | 0.123 |
| Marital status: | 0.473 | ||
| Married/co-habiting | 84 (142/170) | 79 (42/53) | |
| Single | 17 (28/170) | 21 (11/53) | |
| Education: | < 0.001 | ||
| Elementary school | 20 (33/169) | 42 (22/53) | |
| Higher education | 81 (136/169) | 59 (31/53) | |
| Employment status: | 0.065 | ||
| Receiving welfare | 9 (15/170) | 19 (10/53) | |
| Working | 71 (120/170) | 55 (29/53) | |
| Housewife | 1 (2/170) | 4 (2/53) | |
| Student | 17 (28/170) | 15 (8/53) | |
| Other | 3 (5/170) | 8 (4/53) | |
| Use of medications during pregnancy: | |||
| Nicotine replacement therapy | 3 (4/163) | 21 (10/47) | < 0.001 |
| Psychotropic medications1 | 7 (11/163) | 14 (7/49) | 0.097 |
| Alcohol consumption during pregnancy | 2 (3/170) | 2 (1/53) | 0.953 |
| Alcohol consumption prior to pregnancy: | 0.133 | ||
| Rarely | 55 (93/170) | 68 (36/53) | |
| Once a week or less | 35 (60/170) | 23 (12/53) | |
| More than once a week | 7 (11/170) | 9 (5/53) | |
| Never | 4 (6/170) | 0 | |
| Major life events last 12 months2 | 42 (71/170) | 34 (18/53) | 0.311 |
| Depressive symptoms3 | 7 (12/169) | 11 (6/53) | 0.326 |
| Own perceived health: | 0.423 | ||
| Excellent/very good | 79 (135/170) | 74 (39/53) | |
| Fair | 17 (29/170) | 25 (13/53) | |
| Poor/very poor | 4 (6/170) | 2 (1/53) | |
| Planned pregnancy: | 0.312 | ||
| Yes | 56 (94/168) | 45 (24/53) | |
| No, but welcome | 31 (52/168) | 43 (23/53) | |
| No, the timing could have been better | 8 (14/168) | 9 (5/53) | |
| No, I considered termination of the pregnancy | 5 (8/168) | 2 (1/53) | |
| Information about harm of smoking in pregnancy: | 0.097 | ||
| None/not enough | 17 (28/167) | 8 (4/53) | |
| Enough/too much | 83 (139/167) | 93 (49/53) |
Notes: 1Psychotropic medications: hypnotic, antidepressant, or sedative medications. 2Major life events: ≥ 2 of the following life events: having been in a serious accident or had serious illness, serious illness, accident to or death of a family member, serious concerns about a family member, divorce or separation, forced to move household or change jobs, made redundant, had feelings of insecurity at work, serious financial problems, been legally prosecuted. 3Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) ≥ 15.