Pregnant women exposed to second-hand-smoke even if spouse goes outside the home to smoke..

May 28, 2010 - A study was carried out to determine whether spouses who only smoke cigarettes outside the home can reduce the secondhand smoke (SHS, involuntary smoking, passive smoking, environmental tobacco smoke, ets) exposure of non-smoking pregnant women to the levels of those with non-smoking spouses.

In this cross-sectional survey 896 non-smoking pregnant women in their 35th gestational week were included. Hair nicotine levels and the smoking behaviour of their spouses at home were assessed.

PAPER: Hair nicotine levels in non-smoking pregnant women whose spouses smoke outside of the home, Sang-Ho Yoo, Yu-Jin Paek (paek@hallym.ac.kr), Seong-Soo Kim, Do-Hoon Lee, Dong-Ki Seo, Moon-Woo Seong, Hye-Mi Chang, Seok-Tae Choi, Hyoung-June Im, Tob Control doi:10.1136/tc.2009.033134, ABSTRACT..

It was found that spouses who only smoked outside the home did not reduce the level of SHS exposure of pregnant women to the level of pregnant women with non-smoking spouses. A strategy based on the separation of pregnant women and the smoking activity of their spouses might be inadequate to protect pregnant women from SHS at home.

Exposure to active smoking and passive smoking has significant and lifelong effects on the fetus including cognitive development. Widespread exposure to passive smoking increases asthma, chest infections and a range of other health risks. Parental smoking increases risks to the health of children during infancy and childhood, as well as the likelihood of adolescent experimentation and regular smoking. (The impact of smoking on the family Harley J. Stanton, Jane Martin, Jack E Henningfield, Cuurent Pediatrics, Volume 15, Issue 7, Pages 590-598 (December 2005))

Pregnant women exposed to passive smoke greater chance of child will have respiratory distress..