Women who spontaneously quit smoking in early pregnancy

M. Panjari, R. J. Bell, J. Astbury, S. M. Bishop, F. Dalais, G. E. Rice

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30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Spontaneous quitters are prepregnancy smokers who quit by the time of their first antenatal visit. We recruited 192 self-declared spontaneous quitters and 407 smokers at their first visit to the antenatal clinic at the Royal Women's Hospital during April, 1994-May, 1995. Spontaneous quitters made up 23% of prepregnancy smokers. Information about self-declared quitters and smokers was collected by self-completed questionnaires. Urine samples collected at the first visit and in late pregnancy were assayed for cotinine to validate smoking status. A cut-off urinary concentration of ≤ 653 nmol/L cotinine was used to determine active smoking. At the first visit, 20% of the self-declared spontaneous quitters were smoking and by late pregnancy, regardless of their initial biochemically verified status, 27% were smoking. Spontaneous quitters were different from women who said they were still smoking at their first antenatal visit, in a range of demographic variables and measures of addictive behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)271-278
Number of pages8
JournalAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Volume37
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1997
Externally publishedYes

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