Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine smoking habits before and during pregnancy, and factors associated with smoking cessation, in three European settings.

DESIGN: Multicentre cohort study

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: Women seeking antenatal care in Ashford, Menorca and Barcelona and recruited for the Asthma Multicentre Infant Cohort Study (AMICS).
Measurements and main results: Questionnaires enquiring into the smoking habits of each woman and her partner, demographic data, occupation, educational level, number of previous children, breast feeding, alcohol consumption and history of asthma and other allergic diseases were completed during pregnancy and during the first year after parturition. A total of 1,572 pregnant women were included in the three cohorts. Smoking prior to pregnancy was commoner in Barcelona (46.2%) than Menorca (39.8%) or Ashford (31.6%). Cessation rates in relation to pregnancy also differed so that 18% of women in Ashford, 20.4% in Menorca and 31.9% in Barcelona were still smoking during the first trimester. In a multivariate regression model, adjusted by centre, older children, smoking by the partner and an early age when first smoked each showed significant (negative) associations with cessation.

CONCLUSIONS: Baseline smoking habits in the three communities are very different. Barcelona had the highest proportion of smokers prior to pregnancy and the lowest proportion of women quitting during pregnancy. Women pregnant with their first child, those who had started smoking at a later age and those whose partners were non-smokers were more likely to stop smoking once aware of their pregnancy. However, differences in cessation rates persist once these factors are taken into account; such differences warrant further investigation.