Smoking Infants
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Smoking is well known to be a cause of significant illness and death in American society. These illnesses ranging from lung cancer to stroke cost billions of dollars in health care expenditures nationwide annually “Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, killing 42,000 smokers and 53,000 nonsmokers in the US annually. The total cost of medical services for smokers is $50 billion annually” (Lightwood, Phibbs, and Glantz, 1999, 1). One significant component of these costs comes from illnesses and deaths related to women who smoke during pregnancy. The effects of smoking during pregnancy not only impact the mother’s health, but they increase the risk of complications during birth and increase the risk of disease and illness in the infant. The average cost is higher for women who smoke who experience complications during birth compared to non-smoking women who experience complications during birth, $10, 894 vs. $6,544 (Medical, 1997, 1048). These costs do not even take into consideration the expense of treating newborns whose illnesses stem from their mother’s smoking. Smoking rates for minority women are on the rise, which is not a good indicator for any reversal in cost trends due to complications during birth from mother’s who smoke, or from treating their infants for smoking-related illnesses. Many women are unaware of the risk of cigarette smoking during pregnancy, still more are aware of the ris
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ncements and youth anti-smoking rallies at schools across the nation. As the Secretary warned “Every day, 3,000 teen-agers start to smoke, placing themselves at risk of lung disease and cancer. Smoking among teenagers who are pregnant is also going up—putting the next generation at risk as well” (Smoking, 1998, 1).
The problem with many teens and young women who smoke during pregnancy is that they are not aware of all the risks and dangers associated with smoking during pregnancy. As Dr. Lesley Owen, senior research manager with the Health Education Authority in London, argues “The health risks associated with smoking aren’t understood by many of the pregnant women, especially young ones. We found they associate low birth weight with it...they don’t link it with an increased risk of infant mortality and infant respiratory problems” (Pregnant, 1998, 1). Further, University of Michigan Health System researchers found that women who smoked during pregnancy were 50 to 78% more likely to give birth to babies with cleft lips or palates, the risk of a very preterm delivery in successive pregnancies is increased, and maternal cigarette smoking is associated with an abnormal neurologic examination in infants (Lightwood, et al., 1999,
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Approximate Word count = 2842
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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