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A reexamination of smoking before, during, and after pregnancy
Robert S Kahn1, Laura Certain, Robert C Whitaker
1Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA. robert.kahn@chmcc.org
Objectives:
This study examined the patterns and correlates of maternal smoking before, during, and after pregnancy.
Methods:
We examined socioeconomic, demographic, and clinical risk factors associated with maternal smoking in a nationally representative cohort of women (n = 8285) who were surveyed 17 +/- 5 months and again 35 +/- 5 months after delivery.
Results:
Smoking rates among women with a college degree decreased 30% from before pregnancy to 35 months postpartum but did not change among the least educated women. Risk factors clustered, and a gradient linked the number of risk factors (0, 2, 4) to the percentage smoking (6%, 31%, 58%, P <.0001).
Conclusions:
The period of pregnancy and early parenthood is associated with worsening education-related disparities in smoking as well as substantial clustering of risk factors. These observations could influence the targeting and design of maternal smoking interventions.