Issue 3 Winter, 2013 News from PRAMS on prenatal and newborn health issues

IN THIS ISSUE: Smoking and Pregnancy Smoking, Pregnancy Many people know that smoking can and Your Health cause lung diseases, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other problems such as shortness of breath, stained teeth and skin. The Delaware Quitline is a But did you know what can happen free program that can help while smoking during pregnancy? you become a non-smoker. Their toll free number is: Smoking while pregnant can: Increase the risk of miscarriage; (866) 409-1858 Cause problems with oxygen and smoked during the three months food supply for the baby; before becoming pregnant. That is You can also find information Increase the risk of birth defects; about 1 in 4 women. When looked at on the Web at Increase the risk of Sudden Infant by age, smokers are primarily young www.quitsupport.com Death Syndrome (SIDS); and women. The greatest percentage of Cause preterm or low birth weight smokers are in the 20 - 24 year old age Additional information babies. group, with slightly over 39% having about the Division of Public smoked before pregnancy (see Figure Health tobacco program Benefits of not smoking 1). That is about 4 in 10 women for can be found at http:// When you quit smoking (and don’t that age group. By education level, www.dhss.delaware.gov/ have others smoking in your home) 42% of women with a high school dhss/dph/dpc/ there are benefits for you and your education indicated they smoked. For tobacco.html baby. You can have fewer health those with more than 12 years of problems, breathe better and have education, 18.7% indicated they Quitting smoking can be more energy. Your baby will have smoked before pregnancy. (see Figure 2). difficult. There are new fewer wheezing problems, fewer It’s best not to smoke at all, but if you methods available to help coughs, colds and ear infections, and a are a smoker and thinking of getting you quit. reduced risk of SIDS. Quitting also pregnant, stop smoking as soon as saves you money! You save by not possible. Women who smoke have a Call the Quitline to find out spending money on cigarettes and harder time getting pregnant. In how today! indirectly with reduced medical costs. addition, many women don’t know they are pregnant until four or more Smoking data weeks into the pregnancy. By that time From the 2009 PRAMS* survey we the baby could have been exposed to know that overall, for women who the over 4,000 potentially harmful were pregnant, about 28% of them chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

*Delaware PRAMS – Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitor- supplements vital records data by providing state- ing System – is an ongoing population based surveillance specific information to be used for planning and evaluat- system of maternal health and behaviors before, during ing maternal health programs. Further information: and just after pregnancy, of women who gave birth in http://www.cdc.gov/PRAMS Delaware. It is a joint project of the Centers for Disease http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/hp/prams.html Control and the Division of Public Health. PRAMS Pregnancy puts a lot of stress and your baby after pregnancy. Don’t let strain on the body. Smoking only the stress lead you to cigarettes. Talk makes it harder for your body to get to your doctor about other ways to through pregnancy and for you and deal with stress.

Figure 1. Percentage smoking, 3 months before pregnancy, last three months of pregnancy, by age group. Delaware PRAMS 2009.

100.00%

90.00%

80.00% Non-smoker 70.00% Before 60.00% It can be hard to quit Smoker Before 50.00% smoking. 40.00% Overall, 28.7% of Non-Smoker 30.00% Last 3 Months women indicated they 20.00% smoked in the three Smoker Last 3 months before pregnancy. 10.00% Months 16.6% reported they 0.00% smoked during the < 20 years 20 – 24 years 25 – 34 years 35 + years last three months of Years of Age pregnancy. PRAMS survey lead in question was “In the 3 months before you got pregnant, how many cigarettes did you This shows that while smoke on an average day? The PRAMS data reflect live births of Delaware mothers during 2009. Note: Per- centages are within categories (Before/Last), not across. many women do quit Figure 2. Percentage smoking, 3 months before pregnancy, last 3 months of pregnancy, by years of edu- during pregnancy, cation. Delaware PRAMS 2009. others continue to smoke throughout. 100.00% 90.00% For those who did not 80.00% quit, some report that they reduced the 70.00% Non-Smoker number of cigarettes 60.00% Before smoked, while others Smoker Before continued to smoke 50.00% the same amount. 40.00% Non-Smoker 30.00% Research shows that Last 3 Months 20.00% people smoke to Smoker Last 3 relieve stress. While 10.00% Months this is a short term 0.00% solution, smoking < 12 Yrs 12 Yrs 12+ Yrs makes long term Years of Education problems for mothers and babies. References http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/MaternalInfantHealth/index.htm http://women.smokefree.gov/pregnancy-motherhood.aspx http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/smoking.html