A longitudinal survey of mothers’ smoking and non-smoking behavior during pregnancy and child-rearing using the maternal and child health policies

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the longitudinal changes in smoking and non-smoking behavior of mothers during pregnancy and child-rearing and the actual situation of re-smoking.
Method: The participants included 135 mothers who visited the 1 year-and-6-month-old child health checkup in a city in 2015, whose pregnancy notification forms, 4-month health checkups (4M health checkups), and 1 year-and-6-month health checkups (1.6Y health checkups) had available data on their smoking status. These data were collected from the records.
Results: The smoking rate was 7.4% in pregnancy notifications, 8.1% in 4M checkups, and 17.0% in 1.6Y checkups. The percentage of pregnant women who consistently quit smoking was 55.6%, while 69.4% of pregnant women who quit smoking before pregnancy notification continued to do so until the 1.6Y checkup. The relapse rate at the 1.6Y checkup was 30.6%.
Consideration: Pregnant women who did not smoke before pregnancy notification or who quit smoking were more likely not to smoke until after giving birth. Pregnant women who quit smoking were concerned about re-smoking and required timely support.
Conclusion: Measures to prevent smoking from a young age are important. In future, the maternal and child health policies should be used to grasp the actual situation of smoking and re-smoking among these women and provide support.