Helping pregnant smokers quit: meeting the challenge in the next decade
C Tracy Orleansa, Dianne C Barkerb, Nancy J Kaufmana, Joseph F Marxa
a The Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, b Barker
Bi-Coastal Health Consultants, Calabasas, California, USA
Correspondence to: C Tracy Orleans, PhD, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, College Road East, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA; cto@rwjf.org
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
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Introduction |
|---|
Throughout
the past decade, smoking has remained the single most important
modifiable cause of poor pregnancy outcome in the USA. It accounts for
20% of low birth weight deliveries, 8% of preterm births, and 5% of
all perinatal deaths.1 New studies have found that
maternal smoking during pregnancy contributes to sudden infant death
syndrome and may cause important changes in fetal brain and nervous
system development.2-7 New economic estimates indicate
that the direct medical costs of a complicated birth for a smoker are
66% higher than for non-smokers
reflecting the greater severity of
complications and the more intensive care required.8 While
quitting smoking early in pregnancy is most beneficial, important
health benefits accrue from quitting at any time during the
pregnancy.1
Moreover, the health hazards and health care burden to women and their
family members caused by smoking do not begin or end with pregnancy.
Before pregnancy, smoking increases the
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