Some social background variables among smoking and non-smoking primiparae

Of a population of 2,427 Norwegian primiparae, 62.7% were non-smokers, 23.0% smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes a day, and 14.3% smoked 10 or more a day. There was a significant correlation between smoking in pregnancy and age below 20 years, unmarried or previously married status, and poor education (p less than 0.001). Poor housing is of less importance. The mean age of smokers (24.0 years) was significantly lower than that of non-smokers (25.8 years) (p less than 0.001). The overall incidence of smoking in pregnancy was not significantly different from that in the normal population, but pregnant women under 20 smoked significantly more and those older than 24 significantly less, compared with their counterparts in a normal population (p less than 0.01).