Smoking and Pregnancy

It should come as no surprise to anyone any more that "tobacco is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in this country," (Poniers, 1995: 1). Annually, smoking is responsible for nearly half a million deaths a year in this country either directly or through some smoking-related illness. When it comes to pregnancy and smoking, the available literature expresses that the mother, fetus, and even the father remain unaffected physiologically if they smoke prior to conception (in the case of the father's), or during pregnancy (in the case of the mother and fetus, and the newborn child), "smoking during pregnancy has been blamed for birth defects, low birth-weight (which threatens childhood development), miscarriage, premature delivery and stillbirth. Plus, doctors say smoking during gestation increases by 50 percent the likelihood that the fetus will be mentally retarded," (Mathis, 1997: 1). This analysis will discuss the physiological effects of smoking during pregnancy. A brief conclusion will address the future role health care groups and community action need to play in bringing about this awareness to pregnant women and couples.

When it comes to smoking and pregnancy there are many physiological effects. Where the mother is concerned, there is a greater chance of placental disorders and uterine bleeding among women who smoke. In a Canadian study conducted on 87,184 pregnancies between 1986 and 1993,

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ercent of pregnant women used tobacco," (Whitmire, 1997: 1). However, low birth weight statistics still remain high and one of the biggest groups being affected are teens who are pregnant. This is because even though more pregnant women have given up smoking while pregnant, teens have become one of the groups who smoke more during pregnancy. When looking at statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), "fewer pregnant women are smoking these days, but the percentage of pregnant teenagers who smoke us up. This is significant because this is the generation coming up, and these women are likely to go on to have more children. It they are smoking more, that does not bode well for their future health or for that of their children," (Mathis, 1997: 1). Another piece of startling research that has come to light which connects adverse physiological effects on smoking, pregnancy and the newborn child concerns fathers who smoke. The US office of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducted a study that assessed the risk of fathers who smoke before conception on the health of their children. This was the first study of its kind which evaluated the effects of paternal smoking because the mothers did not smoke in this study and

Category: Psychology - S