TEEN PREGNANCY
Eur J Public Health. 2006 Apr;16(2):168-72. Epub 2005 Nov 22. Adolescent smoking in pregnancy and birth outcomes. Delpisheh A, Attia E, Drammond S, Brabin BJ. Child and Reproductive Health Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK. INTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking amongst pregnant adolescents is a preventable risk factor associated with low birthweight (<2,500 g), preterm birth (<37 weeks) and infant mortality. The aim of this study was to compare birth outcomes of adolescents who smoke during pregnancy with those who do not and to construct their birthweight-for-gestational-age curves.
A retrospective cohort analysis of 534 adolescents (<or=19 years) and 8972 adults who delivered singleton births between 1998-2003 at the Liverpool Women's Hospital.
Adolescent pregnancy occurred in 5.6% of deliveries. Mean age of adolescents was 18.1 years (SD = 1.0) and 46.2% smoked during pregnancy including 83.5% light smokers (<10 cigarettes daily). Babies born to adolescent smokers were significantly lighter by -170 g (P = 0.005). The prevalence of low birthweight was almost double in adolescents who smoked (12.1% versus 6.8%, RR = 1.7; CI = 1.0-3.0), and their mean Apgar scores at 5 min were lower (<0.05). A higher prevalence of preterm birth (P < 0.05) and maternal anaemia (P < 0.01) occurred amongst adolescent smokers. Adolescents smoking >10 cigarettes daily had babies with larger birthweight reduction (P = 0.001).
Almost half of all adolescents smoked during their pregnancy. Birthweight-for-gestational-age curves of smoking adolescents showed a marked fall-off in weight from 36 weeks of gestation, and at least 10% of adolescent smokers showed fetal growth restriction from before 32 weeks of gestation.
