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© 1995 Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom

research-article

Factors relating to smoking and pregnancy in the North Western Region


Diana Forrest, Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Stephen Horsley, Consultant in Public Health Medicine
Emilie Roberts, Research Officer
Stephen Barrow, Research and Surveys Manager

Liverpool Health Authorities Hamilton House, 24 Pall Mall, Liverpool L3 6AL
Morecambe Bay Health Authority
North West Surveys and Research


Address correspondence to Dr. D. Forrest

BACKGROUND: One of the targets for the Health of the nation is to increase the proportion of women smokers who give up smoking at the start of their pregnancy, from a quarter to at least one-third, by the year 2000. This study uses a regional lifestyle survey to look at the characteristics of pregnant women who smoke.

METHODS: The lifestyle survey was based on a structured questionnaire which was sent by post to a systematic random sample of 60000 adults across the North Western Region. A total of 513 respondents were pregnant; of these, 150 (29 per cent) reported that they smoked. The responses of pregnant smokers and non-smokers were compared to identify differences in age, demographic and social characteristics, mental distress and attitudes to lifestyle variables.

RESULTS: Women in the North Western Region who smoked tended not to give up during pregnancy, but they did tend to smoke less. Smokers were more likely to be under 25 than non-smokers, less likely to be home-owners, and less likely to be living with a husband or partner. There was no difference in mental distress between smokers and ex-smokers, but they both experienced significantly greater mental distress than those who had never smoked. The difference between smokers and ex-smokers was in their type of occupation, housing tenure and whether they were living with a partner, ex-smokers being much more similar to non-smokers.

CONCLUSIONS: More work needs to be done to improve the design of smoking cessation programmes, to make them more culturally appropriate for pregnant women who appear to be socially disadvantage have poor housing and lack a stable relationship.


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