Tobacco and Pregnancy

A Killer Combination

Objectives

• Learn about tobacco usage among pregnant women

• Identify the impact of tobacco on pregnancy and childbirth outcomes

• Learn techniques to reduce tobacco use in pregnant females

Tobacco Usage

About 13% of all pregnant women smoke during pregnancy.

“Secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and in adults who do not smoke.”

US Surgeon General’s Report on Secondhand Smoke

Smoking and Pregnancy

Women who smoke:

• Are twice as likely to have trouble getting pregnant

• Have a 30% higher chance of not being able to get pregnant

• Are twice as likely to have a premature rupture of the membranes.

Pregnant Mothers have…

• Intrauterine (inside the uterus) growth delay

• Higher chance of pre-term labor

• Premature rupture of membranes (water bag), which may lead to pre-term delivery or an infection affecting the baby

• Increased rates of stillbirths, miscarriages, and ectopic (outside the uterus) pregnancy

• Complications during delivery

And the Baby….

• Is more likely to be born too soon

• Is smaller

• Is 1.4 to 3.0 times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

• 3.5 times greater chance of SIDS if both parents smoke

Financial Impact

Medicaid Programs pay for an estimated 27-53 percent of all births.

Pregnant women with deliveries paid by Medicaid are more than twice as likely to smoke as privately insured women.

Two-thirds of the estimated neonatal expenses attributable to maternal smoking was paid by Medicaid.

Smoking Among Medicaid Insured Mothers: What are the Neonatal Expenses? E. Kathleen Adams, et al, Health Care Financing Review, Winter 2004-2005, Vol 26, #2

Secondhand Smoke

It hurts you.

It doesn’t take much.

It doesn’t take long.