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Table 1 Maternal characteristics of non-smokers and smokers before pregnancy and of continuers and quitters during pregnancy

From: Characteristics of women who continue smoking during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study of pregnant women and new mothers in 15 European countries

Maternal characteristics

Total study sample (n = 8344)

Women smoking (n = 2944)

Women not smoking

Women smoking before pregnancy

p-value

Women who continued smoking when pregnant

Women who quit smoking when pregnant

p-value

(n = 5400) (64.7%)

(n = 2944) (35.3%)

 

(n = 771) (26.2%)

(n = 2173) (73.8%)

 

n (%)

n (%)

 

n (%)

n (%)

 

Region of residency

      

Western Europe*

2240 (41.5)

954 (32.4)

<0.001

277 (35.9)

677 (31.2)

0.014

Northern Europe†

1922 (35.6)

893 (30.3)

 

206 (26.7)

687 (31.6)

 

Eastern Europe§

1238 (22.9)

1097 (37.3)

 

288 (37.4)

809 (37.2)

 

Maternal age

      

≀ 20

95 (1.8)

151 (5.1)

<0.001

51 (6.6)

100 (4.6)

0.051

21-30

2802 (51.9)

1777 (60.4)

 

459 (59.5)

1318 (60.7)

 

31-40

2375 (44.0)

976 (33.2)

 

246 (31.9)

730 (33.6)

 

> 40

128 (2.4)

40 (1.4)

 

15 (1.9)

25 (1.2)

 

Marital status

      

Married/cohabiting

5232 (96.9)

2694 (91.5)

<0.001

668 (86.6)

2026 (93.2)

<0.001

Other

168 (3.1)

250 (8.5)

 

103 (13.4)

147 (6.8)

 

Highest education level

      

Less than high school

147 (2.7)

220 (7.5)

<0.001

95 (12.3)

125 (5.8)

<0.001

High school

1360 (25.2)

1014 (34.4)

 

348 (45.1)

666 (30.6)

 

More than high school

3260 (60.4)

1366 (46.4)

 

230 (29.8)

1136 (52.3)

 

Other

633 (11.7)

344 (11.7)

 

98 (12.7)

246 (11.3)

 

Health literacy **

      

Low

264 (5.0)

215 (7.4)

<0.001

74 (9.8)

141 (6.6)

0.015

Medium

2113 (39.7)

1372 (47.4)

 

349 (46.3)

1023 (47.8)

 

High

2943 (55.3)

1305 (45.1)

 

331 (43.9)

974 (45.6)

 

Working status

      

Employed (not as HCP)

3273 (60.7)

1755 (59.7)

<0.001

418 (54.4)

1337 (61.6)

<0.001

Healthcare personnel (HCP)

772 (14.3)

349 (11.9)

 

73 (9.5)

276 (12.7)

 

Housewife

449 (8.3)

208 (7.1)

 

82 (10.7)

126 (5.8)

 

Other

898 (16.7)

629 (21.4)

 

196 (25.5)

433 (19.9)

 

First language

      

Same as in country of residency

5071 (94.1)

2795 (95.2)

0.047

733 (95.3)

2062 (95.1)

0.894

Other

318 (5.9)

142 (4.8)

 

36 (4.7)

106 (4.9)

 

Previous children

      

No

2633 (48.8)

1617 (54.9)

<0.001

385 (49.9)

1232 (56.7)

0.001

Yes

2767 (51.2)

1327 (45.1)

 

386 (50.1)

941 (43.3)

 

Morbidity not incl. RD ††

      

Yes

541 (18.4)

941 (17.4)

0.291

157 (20.4)

384 (17.7)

0.109

No

2403 (81.6)

4459 (82.6)

 

614 (79.6)

1789 (82.3)

 

Respiratory disease §§

      

Yes

306 (10.4)

603 (11.2)

0.296

71 (9.2)

235 (10.8)

0.235

No

2638 (89.6)

4797 (88.8)

 

700 (90.8)

1938 (89.2)

 

Planned pregnancy

      

Yes/not completely unexpected

5002 (93.0)

2606 (88.7)

<0.001

647 (84.0)

1959 (90.3)

<0.001

No, it was not planned

377 (7.0)

333 (11.3)

 

123 (16.0)

210 (9.7)

 

Folic acid use *†

      

Yes

5022 (93.5)

2600 (89.2)

<0.001

642 (84.9)

1958 (90.7)

<0.001

No

347 (6.5)

314 (10.8)

 

114 (15.1)

200 (9.3)

 

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy

      

Yes

790 (14.8)

527 (18.0)

<0.001

154 (20.1)

373 (17.3)

0.090

No

4556 (85.2)

2398 (82.0)

 

612 (79.9)

1786 (82.7)

 
  1. HCP = health care provider; RD = respiratory disease.
  2. Numbers may not add up to total due to missing values. For Folic acid use and Alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the response ‘cannot remember’ was treated as a missing value. Missing values are less than 5% of the total.
  3. *Includes Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom.
  4. †Includes Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden.
  5. §Includes Croatia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia.
  6. **Measured by a self-assessment scale comprising three questions corresponding to the set of brief screening questions (SBSQ) developed to detect inadequate or marginal health literacy in clinical settings [26, 27].
  7. ††Includes the presence of a chronic disease (hypothyroidism, rheumatic diseases (incl. rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis), diabetes (type I or II), epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases (incl. hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart diseases) or others (open-ended option)).
  8. §§Includes the presence of asthma, allergy, rhinitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis, or other respiratory tract conditions.
  9. *†Indicates folic acid use before and/or during pregnancy.
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BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

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