Environmental exposure of pregnant women to tobacco smoke and selected socio-economic factors

Abstract

Introduction. Exposure of pregnant women constitutes the risk to procreative health, correct process of pregnancy, health of newborn babies and children in further years. According to GATS, 14.1 mln of Poles are exposed to inhalation of tobacco smoke. In Poland about 20-30% of women smoke cigarettes during pregnancy and half non-active smokers are exposed to passive smoking. Therefore, in Poland each year are born more than 100 thousand children that during the first 9 months of existence in the mother’s womb are exposed to hundreds of health threat compounds.

Aim. An aim of this work is to study the socio-economic determinants of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the selected group of pregnant women.

Material and Method. The study was carried out in the group of 105 patients of maternity wards in Lublin and Zamość hospitals. Significance level with statistical analysis was adopted as p < 05.

Results. Nearly half of respondents spent time during pregnancy with persons, who smoked cigarettes in their presence (46.67%) including 14.97% – each day. Exposure to passive smoking during pregnancy significantly more often affects women with vocational and secondary education (72%), performing physical work (77.78%), mainly walking work (72.73%). Women professionally passive in period prior to pregnancy more often declare their contact with tobacco smoke in the place of residence during pregnancy than women professionally active prior to pregnancy (33.33% and 21.84%). Daily contact with smokers more often declares women, who work physically (40% vs. 3.33%).

Conclusions. Study results indicate the problem of exposure of pregnant women to smoke. Studied socio-economic factors affect the degree of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. There is a need to implement systematic activities in the field of social education about the influence of tobacco smoke on intrauterine development of the fetus. For this purpose it would be useful to develop a health program for women of child-bearing age with focus on the most vulnerable social groups of women. It is also necessary to provide people actively smoking from pregnant women, in particular of home environment, with health education.