Year: 2009
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Over the recent decade, the number of smoking young people, especially women has increased significantly. Exposure of fetus to tobacco smoke and its negative impact on the development and health of newborns is therefore not only a medical but also a social problem of great importance. That is why the evaluation of tobacco smoking incidence among pregnant women and its influence on the newborn health status was the aim of this study. A questionnaire survey was carried out in a population of 1528 pregnant women and urine cotinine concentration was determined in 15% of the study population. Smoking habit was declared by 18.2% of woman, and exposure to ETS was reported by 32.0% of respondents. A significant association between active and passive smoking and the socio-economic status of respondents was noticed. The birth weight of newborns born to smoking mothers was lower by about 332 g, however, the influence of passive smoking on the newborn birth weight was not observed. Urine cotinine concentration in smoking women was 923 ng/mg of creatinine and in passive smokers 49.8 ng/mg of creatinine, whereas in non-smokers it was below the limit of detection of the analytical method. The performed study with the participation of relatively large group of pregnant women with different socio-economic status, confirmed a key role of tobacco smoking in decreasing the birth weight of newborns. Application of urine cotinine determination as a biomarker of exposure to tobacco smoke rendered it possible to distinguish objectively smokers, passive smokers and non-smokers in the study population.
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2183367958