PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AND HEAVY SMOKING DURING PREGNANCY AMONG PAROUS SCANDINAVIAN WOMEN

Objectice - To analyse how psychosocial and social factors are associa ted with heavy smoking in the third trimester of pregnancy. Design - D ata were collected from a prospective study primarily initiated to stu dy fetal growth retardation. (NICHD Study of successive small for gest ational age births). Setting - Uppsala in Sweden, Bergen and Trondheim in Norway. Subjects - Study subjects were 775 para I and II, referred from GPs or maternity wards to the University Hospitals in Uppsala, B ergen and Trondheim. All women smoked at the time of conception. ''Hea vy smokers'' were defined as women who smoked 15 or more cigarettes pe r day during the third trimester. Main outcome measure - Psychosocial factors and potentially associated heavy smoking in the third trimeste r. Results - Young women and women without a partner smoked heavily mo re often than older women and married/cohabitant women. Growing up wit h just one parent and the experience of a difficult childhood were als o significantly associated with heavy smoking before delivery. If the woman's family (except partner) did not approve of the pregnancy, the woman was more often a heavy smoker. The women who smoked heavily in t he third trimester had started smoking at an earlier age than the rest of the smokers. Conclusion - The pregnant woman's previous and presen t psychosocial conditions are related to her heavy smoking in the thir d trimester of pregnancy.