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Smoke-Free Legislation in Spain and Prematurity
Lorena Simón1, Roberto Pastor-Barriuso1,2, Elena Boldo1,2,3
1National Centre for Epidemiology and.
Insights
Spain's smoking bans significantly reduced adverse birth outcomes. The comprehensive ban lowered preterm births and low birth weight, while the partial ban decreased small for gestational age infants, improving perinatal health.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Reproductive Health
Background:
- Spain enacted a partial smoking ban in 2006 and a comprehensive ban in 2011.
- These policies aimed to reduce public exposure to secondhand smoke.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between Spain's smoke-free policies and perinatal complications.
- To assess the impact of partial and comprehensive smoking bans on adverse birth outcomes.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study analyzed live births from 2000 to 2013.
- Adverse outcomes included preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and low birth weight.
- Overdispersed Poisson models assessed rate changes, adjusting for sociodemographic and health factors.
Main Results:
- The comprehensive ban correlated with immediate and 1-year reductions in preterm birth rates (4.5% and 4.1%).
- Low birth weight rates decreased immediately (2.3%) and at 1 year (3.5%) post-comprehensive ban.
- The partial ban showed an immediate reduction in SGA rates (4.9%), sustained at 1 year.
Conclusions:
- Spanish smoke-free policies are linked to reduced risks of preterm birth and low birth weight.
- The comprehensive smoking ban demonstrated a more significant impact on reducing adverse perinatal outcomes.
Background And Objective:
Spain implemented a partial smoking ban in 2006 followed by a comprehensive ban in 2011. The objective was to examine the association between these smoke-free policies and different perinatal complications.
Methods:
Cross-sectional study including all live births between 2000 and 2013. Selected adverse birth outcomes were: preterm births (<37 gestational weeks), small for gestational age (SGA; <10th weight percentile according to Spanish reference tables), and low birth weight (<2500 g). We estimated immediate and gradual rate changes after smoking bans by using overdispersed Poisson models with different linear trends for 2000 to 2005 (preban), 2006 to 2010 (partial ban), and 2011 to 2013 (comprehensive ban). Models were adjusted for maternal sociodemographics, health care during the delivery, and smoking prevalence during pregnancy.
Results:
The comprehensive ban was associated with preterm birth rate reductions of 4.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.9%-6.1%) and 4.1% (95% CI: 2.5%-5.6%) immediately and 1 year after implementation, respectively. The low birth weight rate also dropped immediately (2.3%; 95% CI: 0.7%-3.8%) and 1 year after the comprehensive ban implementation (3.5%; 95% CI: 2.1%-5.0%). There was an immediate reduction in the SGA rate at the onset of the partial ban (4.9%; 95% CI: 3.5%-6.2%), which was sustained 1 year postimplementation. Although not associated with the comprehensive ban at the onset, the SGA rate declined by 1.7% (95% CI: 0.3%-3.1%) 1 year postimplementation.
Conclusions:
The implementation of the Spanish smoke-free policies was associated with a risk reduction for preterm births and low birth weight infants, especially with the introduction of the more restrictive ban.
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