Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Smoking in Early Pregnancy

Background: Tobacco consumption during pregnancy may cause health consequences for the pregnant woman and the future child. The aim of this research was to assess the prevalence of tobacco consumption in the first trimester of pregnancy and the variables related. Methods: A sample of 760 pregnant women less than 20 weeks, recruited from 2012 to 2014 in 7 health centers belonging to the sanitary area of Santiago de Compostela, were included in a crosssectional study. The assessment included an ad hoc questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Edinburg Posnatal Depresion Scale. In the bivariate analysis, Pearson chi-square and Student t tests were used, and the multivariate analysis was performed using binary logistic regression calculating the Odds Ratio (OR) and their confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: The prevalence of tobacco use was 15.7%. A greater percentage of smokers compared to nonsmokers don't have a college degree (70.6% vs. 40.7%), have smoker partner (65.5 vs. 24.0), were less aware of how harmful tobacco it is (65.5% vs. 24.0%), hadn't thought to breastfeed, and had higher levels of anxiety, stress and depression. The predictive variables of smoking were not having a college degree [OR 2.56; 1.61-4.00], having a partner who smokes [OR 5.26; 3.33-8.33], being not aware of the effects of tobacco [OR 1.79; 1.11-2.86] and an increased perception of stress [OR 1.07; 1.04-1.09]. Conclusions: Tobacco use during pregnancy continues to be an important problem, which is influenced by socio-demographic variables and related to health as well as by psychological variables.