SMOKING EXPOSURE COMPARISON AMONG ADOLESCENT AND ADULT MOTHERS WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT NEWBORNS

SMOKING EXPOSURE COMPARISON AMONG ADOLESCENT AND ADULT MOTHERS WITH LOW BIRTH WEIGHT NEWBORNS

Raquel Ferreira de Alencar

Abstract

Objective: Describe and compare the smoking exposure among adolescent and adult mothers who delivered low birth weight newborns on three public maternities in Distrito Federal.

Method: We interviewed 316 adolescent mothers (<20 years old) and 632 adult mothers (≥20 y.o). Prospective and transversal cohort study about the mother´s way of life who delivered low birth weight newborns (RNBP) and birth assistance on three regional public hospitals of the Secretaria de Estado de Saúde do Distrito Federal (SES-DF) within a period of one year, from 2009 to 2010. All adolescent mothers who gave birth to live newborns from a single gestation and twice the number of adult mothers (control), who delivered RNBP immediately before or after each adolescent mother of a RNBP, were included in the study. The data was obtained from questionnaires filled by the mothers after giving birth. In this research, the item “smoking” was limited, once we could not quantify the period and amount of cigarettes smoked during pregnancy. The chi-square test was used to assess the association among the variables (maternal age and smoking exposure). The level of significance was of p < 0,05.

Resultados: The prevalence of smokers was 13.6% (n=144) in the total sample. The was no significant difference (p=0,848) among 14.9% (n=47) adolescent mothers and 15.3% (n=97) adult mothers in relation to smoking habits.

Conclusion: In this study, the smoking habit seems not to be associated to the maternal age, so that the maternal age did not influence low birth weight. Thus, there was no relation between smoking exposure and low birth weight newborns. The occurrence of smoking habits in the present research showed to be lower than the one published by DATASUS during the last few years, which varied from de 19% a 27% in different regions of the country.

Key words: Low birth weight; maternal age; adolescents; adults; smoking habits.