SMOKING IN PREGNANCY - A WAY TO COPE WITH EXCESSIVE WORKLOAD

Objective - To examine if abstention from smoking in pregnancy increas es with opportunities to limit workload. Design - Cross-sectional stud y based on self-administered questionnaires to women post partum. Sett ing - All maternity wards in Norway, 16 October-26 November 1989. Subj ects - 5438 women, or 87.2% of all parturients in Norway during the st udy period. Main outcome measure - The abstention fraction (AF) define d as percentage of nonsmokers in pregnancy among prepregnancy daily sm okers. Results - The abstention fraction was lower for women with lack of influence on work pace, with hectic work pace, exhaustion after wo rk or work schedules other than daytime, for women with children <16 y ears of age in the household, and for women in paid work with 20 hours or more of housework weekly, than for women without these conditions. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) for abstention were low for women with chil dren <16 years both when in paid work (OR 0.4) and as housewives (OR 0 .3). Women who received extra help with housework had a high abstentio n fraction (OR 1.6) both when in paid work and as housewives. The abst ention fraction was high for women with daytime work (OR 1.5) and low with hectic work pace (OR 0.7), compared with women without these cond itions. Conclusion - Abstention from smoking in pregnancy increases wi th opportunities to limit total workload.