A review of literature on pregnant women smoking efforts found that few programs heed epidemiological patterns of smoking and is not empirically designed. Pregnancy among youth perpetrators and receivers is increasing in the United States at an alarming rate. Findings suggest that there is promise for more effective comprehensive approaches to reduce youth pregnancy. .
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Pregnant Women Smoking Programs.
Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with certain childhood cancers, it doubles the likelihood of bearing an infant with intrauterine growth retardation; and it increases the risk of spontaneous abortion, premature rupture of membranes, and delivery of a stillborn infant. Smoking during pregnancy impedes the growth of the fetus and may impair the learning ability of the infant. It is also increases the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and reduces infant birth weight by as much as 200 grams.1 Women who smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk of spontaneous abortions (miscarriages). A pregnant woman who smokes is 1.6 times more likely than a nonsmoker to have a spontaneous abortion.
Tobacco use among pregnant women has declined in recent years, there is still a long way to go to reach the Healthy People 2010 goals to further reduce the prevalence of smoking among pregnant women and of increasing smoking cessation during pregnancy by 30%.3 According to CDC records, in 1999 21% of all U.S. women smoked and 12.3% of women giving birth reported smoking during pregnancy. In 1998, the proportion of pregnant women covered by Medicaid who smoked during the last 3 months of pregnancy ranged from 15.8% to 38.5% in 15 states. On average, smoking among pregnant women on Medicaid was 2.5 times that of pregnant women without Medicaid coverage A pregnant woman who smokes is between 1.5 and 3.5 times more likely than a nonsmoker to have a low birth weight baby.
Infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy have 2.