24.05.12
North-south divide over smoking whilst pregnant
One in eight women giving birth in England are smokers, figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show. While this number has fallen over the past five years, there is wide regional variation in the amount of women who class themselves as a smoker at the time of giving birth.
In 2011/12, 13% of all women who gave birth in a hospital inEnglandwere smokers at the time; 87,700 mothers. Statistics demonstrate this has fallen from 15%, or 90,900, in 2006/07.
The incidence of women smoking at delivery is higher in the northern SHAs than in the south. In the North East, one in five women classed themselves as smokers at the time of birth compared to around one in 17 in London.
Blackpool PCT had the highest percentage of women classed as smokers at the time of delivery of any PCT, with 29.7%. This is significantly down from the 38.2% figure in 2006/07. Westminster PCT had the smallest proportion – just 2.9%.
HSCIC’s chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This report enables us to see how many women class themselves as a smoker at the time they give birth. It shows a general reduction over time in the percentage of women who still smoke when their baby is born, with an evident north-south divide.
“This is important data for the Government’s Tobacco Control Plan, published in March 2011, which aims to reduce rates of smoking throughout pregnancy to 11% or less by the end of 2015.”
The report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/wsstd1112q4
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