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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Scotland: Pregnant Women Tested for Smoking [05/06-2]
Excerpts from: Pregnant women to have smoking test
By HELEN PUTTICK The Herald [05/06/04]
Expectant mothers are to be routinely breath-tested for traces of cigarettes in a ground-breaking campaign to stamp out smoking during pregnancy.
Midwives will take carbon monoxide readings from women at clinics across Glasgow when they attend for the usual medical checks, such as blood pressure.
The scheme, known as breathe, is thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland. Women identified as smokers will be offered support to stop, including free nicotine re-placement therapy (NRT). NHS Greater Glasgow has introduced the system because it is thought many women lie about continuing to smoke when pregnant because they are embarrassed about their behaviour.
The habit can seriously damage unborn babies and is linked to premature births, miscarriages and still births. Experts say smoking during pregnancy can adversely affect lung development in an infant, and the child has a higher risk of asthma and inner ear problems.
In Glasgow, 27% of women smoke during pregnancy, but this rises to 51% in the most deprived neighbourhoods. The UK average is 24%.
Any woman found by the clinics to have more than 10 parts per million of carbon monoxide in her breath is likely to be a smoker and will be offered the chance to see a smoking cessation midwife.
A risk assessment will then be carried out to determine if placing the mother on NRT would be in the best interests of the child. Although nicotine is potentially harmful, NRT avoids exposing the foetus to toxins such as carbon monoxide which are found in tobacco smoke.
Breathe is part of Glasgow's attempt to meet the Scottish Executive national target of reducing the number of expectant mothers who are smokers to 23% by 2005 and to 20% by 2010. Lorraine Jarvie, head of the project, hailed it as "a brilliant new development to improve the future health of women and babies".
However, designated smoking rooms in the city's three maternity units will remain. NHS Greater Glasgow said they had been created for "health and safety purposes".
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