Smoking prevalence in pre- and post-natal women in Serbia

Background
Women in Serbia have one of the highest smoking prevalence in Europe – 29.9% (2006), and smoking is still socially accepted.

 Objectives
The goals of this National survey are to estimate smoking prevalence, cessation and maternal exposure to ETS during each trimester of pregnancy, and at 3 and 6 months post-partum. Infant outcomes are also examined, as well as percentage of women who were advised to stop smoking by a health professional.

 Methods
A representative sample of approximately 2,700 women was drawn from all women giving birth in Serbia from April 1 to June 30, 2008 in 66 health care centers derived from 158 by probability proportionate to size cluster sampling. Trained patronage nurses visited women at home at 3-4 months, and then at 6-7 months post-partum to complete a specially constructed interviews and copy selected data from the Newborn Record. This study has received support from CPHA and CIDA.

 Results
First preliminary results on the mothers visited in July (No=854), showed that at the time of conception, first, second and third trimester of pregnancy 26.6%, 23.3%, 20.6%, and 19.1%, respectively, were daily smokers.  It was observed that 55.5% of women live with smokers and 71.6% permit smoking in their homes. During the pregnancy 63.3% of all women were asked by health professionals about smoking and 46.8% were informed about health hazards related to smoking. Final results will be released in April 2009 and presented.

Conclusion
The results of the survey will be used by policy makers to introduce and implement new laws and enforce other measures. Comprehensive measures, both policy and practice, in high risk groups of women will be introduced. Practice among health care professionals with respect to smoking prevention and cessation will be improved, particularly for women of reproductive age.