[The effect of maternal smoking on pregnancy outcome]

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of smoking on the pregnancy outcome. The retrospective study was based on the original database made at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Medical School, University of Rijeka, in the period between 1987 and 1997. In the mentioned period we analysed 37,417 total singleton births out of which there were 1,685 (4.5%) preterm and 35,732 (95.5%) term births, as well as 1,739 (4.6%) hypotrophic and 35,678 (95.4%) eutrophic newborns. The analysis of smoking during the whole pregnancy on the gestation outcome was performed in 9,895 (26.4%) parturient smokers and 27,522 (73.6%) parturient nonsmokers (control group). The frequency of preterm and/or term delivery, intrauterine fetal growth retardation, Apgar score, birth weight, as well as morbidity and perinatal mortality, were analysed in both groups. The frequency of preterm deliveries was 5.4% (n = 529) in parturient smokers and 4.2% (n = 1,156) in parturient nonsmokers. This difference is statistically significant (p < 0.001). The frequency of hypotrophic newborns born to parturient smokers (n = 631 or 6.4%) was statistically significantly higher (p < 0.001) compared to the frequency of hypotrophic newborns (n = 1,108 or 4.0%) born to parturient smokers. The obtained results point to the importance of chronic smoking during pregnancy as a risk factor in the development of maternal and/or fetal complications.