MATERNAL CIGARETTE-SMOKING AND THE RISK OF TUBAL PREGNANCY

The association between maternal smoking and the occurrence of tubal pregnancy was evaluated in a population-based case-control study of members of the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington. Women hospitalized with tubal pregnancy from October 1981 through September 1986 (n = 274) were compared with reproductive-age women who were at risk of becoming pregnant during the same time period (n = 727). The relative risk of tubal pregnancy associated with ever having smoked cigarettes was 1.3 (95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.0-1.8). Compared with women who had never smoked, those who smoked at the time of conception had a 40% increase in the risk of tubal pregnancy (95% Cl 1.0-2.0). These results support earlier epidemiologic and nonepidemiologic reports of a greater risk of tubal pregnancy associated with current or recent maternal cigarette smoking.