Purpose: to describe alcohol and tobacco use in adult pregnant women and determine its association with the obstetric outcome.
Methods: analytical transversal study, in which 433 adult pregnant women and their newborns have been included, attended at a public maternity hospital in Rio de Janeiro, from 1999 to 2006. Information on the mother and the newborn was collected at the moment of delivery and during puerperium through an interview and inspection of the medical records. 'Use of alcohol during gestation' and 'use of cigarette during gestation' have been considered when detected at any gestational age and written down on the medical record.
Results: it was observed that 5.5 and 7.7% of the pregnant women reported cigarette and alcohol use during gestation, respectively. Maternal features related to tobacco use during pregnancy were marital status (p=0.005), age (p=0.01) and pre-natal nutritional guidance (p=0.003). Tobacco use during pregnancy has been strongly associated with alcohol use, 31.3% of the women reporting concomitant use of both substances (p<0.05). No association between alcohol or tobacco use during gestation and obstetric outcome (gestational age, newborn weight at birth and newborn medical conditions; p>0.05) has been detected.
Conclusions: these results suggest that tobacco and alcohol use should be investigated during pre-natal care among all women, particularly single women, over 35 years old, with history of miscarriage, and with unwanted pregnancy. Nutritional guidance had a protective effect against tobacco use during gestation, and thus pregnant women should be informed as to the harmful effects of substance use to ensure better obstetric outcome.