Objectives: The aim of the work was to assess among pregnant women from small towns and villages in Poland: the prevalence of smoking, credibility of smoking, and influence of socioeconomic factors on smoking status.
Methods: The data came from 4512 interviews with women in different trimesters of pregnancy. The interviews were collected in 2007 and 2008 year in towns up to 8000 citizens in 12 voivodeships.
Results: Prevalence of smoking in the beginning of pregnancy was confirmed by 34.6 % of women. During the pregnancy 14.7 % of women declared quitting smoking and 19.9 % continued smoking. Cigarette smoking was most frequent in those with a primary education, unemployed, very low incomes in household, and having both smoking parents. In multifactorial analysis, risk of smoking was highest (95 % CI 1.74-6.06) for women that were divorced or not living with a partner compared with married.
Conclusions: Rates of active smoking among a population of pregnant women living in small towns in Poland are very high. Since the correlates of smoking during pregnancy are a low education level and a low economic status of the pregnant woman, these socioeconomic groups should be first priority targets.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Pregnancy; Smoking; Smoking cessation.