The Effects of Cigarettes Smoking on Low Birth Weights of Infants - Term Paper Example

These pregnancy outcomes are known to be associated with infant mortality (Kochanek & Martin, 2005). Hypothesis In this observational study it has been hypothesized that women who are smokers, on average, will give birth to infants with birth weight less than 2500 grams than those who are non-smokers Cigarette Smoking in the United States The prevalence of smoking in the adult U.S. population in 1965 was 42.4% (51.9% of men in the U.S. and 33.9% of women) (Giovino, 2002). More men than women continue to smoke (25.

1% of men and 21.2% of women), however the decline in women smoking is at a far slower rate than that observed in men. The gap in the rate of smoking between men and women has diminished from almost 20% in 1965 to less than 5% in 1997 (MMWR, 1999). In spite of numerous reports since the mid 1960s about smoking and health risks (U.S. Surgeon General, 2001), a Department of Health and Human Services report released stated that 23% of the U.S. adult population smoked cigarettes between 1999 and 2001 (DHHS, 2004).

Ebrahim, Floyd, Merritt, Decoufle, and Holtzman (2000), using data from the National Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) of 187,302 non-institutionalized women aged 18-44, found that the prevalence of current smoking decreased significantly among both non-pregnant women (26.7% to 23.6% and pregnant women (16.3% to 11.8%) between 1987 and 1996. A 1999 report stated that 21 % of all U.S. women and 12.3 % of pregnant women in the U.S. reported smoking during pregnancy (Mathews, 2001).

The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Reproductive Outcomes Cigarette smoking has been known for decades to be related to poor reproductive outcomes (Annette, 2008). Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with first trimester spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, preterm birth, placenta previa and abruption, low birth weight, restricted intrauterine lung growth, and sudden unexplained infant death (Hofhuis, de Jongste, & Merkus, 2003). Further, cigarette smoking has been associated with fetal loss, respiratory distress syndrome and other respiratory conditions of the newborn, and sudden infant death syndrome (Schoendorf & Kiely, 1992).

In addition, it is estimated that 17 to 26% of low birth weight infants, 7 to 10% of preterm deliveries, and 5-6% of prenatal deaths could be prevented if pregnant women did not smoke (Husten, Chrismon, & Reddy, 1996). In terms of birth defects, one study, using the 345 cases of infants with clubfoot and the 3,029 controls of the Atlanta Birth Defects Case Control Study database, Honein, Paulozzi, and Moore (2000) identified an approximate 20- fold increased risk for clubfoot to occur in infants born to women who had a family history of clubfoot and who also smoked cigarettes (OR=20.

30, 95%CI: 7.90, 52.17). This risk for clubfoot was much higher when both factors were considered together than the risk associated with either of these risk factors alone (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.04, 1.72 for cigarette smoking alone; OR=6.52, 95%CI: 2.95, 14.41 for family history alone). There have been numerous studies published about the association of cigarette smoking in pregnancy and low birth weight. For example, a population-based Swedish study (n = 538,829) showed that smoking