PREDICTORS OF SMOKING DURING AND AFTER PREGNANCY - A SURVEY OF MOTHERS OF NEWBORNS

Background. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy represents a significan t health risk to the fetus, but most women continue to smoke during pr egnancy, and most who quit relapse postpartum. This study provides an assessment of psychosocial variables on women who quit, relapsed, cut down, or did not alter their smoking during pregnancy. Methods. Mother s of newborns in 49 pediatric practices (N = 13,495) were surveyed at the newborns' first well-care office visit to a pediatrician, and 2,90 1 mothers who smoked in the month prior to pregnancy were identified. Predictive information was obtained by comparing mothers who quit smok ing with those who continued to smoke, mothers who stayed quit with re lapsers, and mothers who reduced tobacco consumption with those who di d not. Results. Thirty-five percent of mothers reported quitting smoki ng during pregnancy, and 52% had cut down for pregnancy. Factors relat ed to quitting smoking for pregnancy were younger age, higher level of education, lower smoking level, having a partner who did not smoke, a nd not consuming alcohol. Mothers who quit also reported allowing less smoking in the home. Relapse for quitters was highly correlated with partner's smoking. For women who cut down but did not quit, smoking le vel and age were most significant. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.