164722 Demographic and psychosocial profile of smoking during pregnancy among Dominican Republic women

Monday, November 5, 2007

Essie Sierra-Torres, MPH , Community and Preventive Medicine/Social and Behavioral Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Deborah Ossip-Klein, PhD , Community and Preventive Medicine/Social and Behavioral Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Ann M. Dozier, RN, PhD , Community and Preventive Medicine/Social and Behavioral Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Zahira Quiñones, MD, MPH , Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, Dominican Republic
Sergio Diaz, MD , Proyecto Doble T, Centro de Atencion Primaria JUan XXIII, Santiago, Dominican Republic
Background: Factors that influence maternal smoking during pregnancy and its effects on the physical, behavioral and cognitive development of children are well analyzed/researched in the developed world. As the tobacco epidemic expands to include low to middle income countries, additional research is warranted to understand tobacco attitudes and practices among their populations.

Methods: Two surveys were conducted. The Community Survey, included 1052 community members from 6 disenfranchised communities in the DR (2 rural; 2 peri-urban; 2 urban). The Smoker Cohort Survey included 659 smokers randomly selected from households with multiple adult smokers.

Results: Preliminary analyses of the community survey indicated that 92.9% of interviewed females had been pregnant; of these 22.0% reported smoking during a prior or current pregnancy; 45.7% reported being advised by a health care provider to quit during pregnancy; 33.9% stopped smoking because of pregnancy and 77.2% reported frequent exposure to Secondhand Smoke. In the Smoker Cohort, 42.49% were female and 93.0% had experienced a pregnancy; 88.4% reported smoking daily and 72.1% smoked their first cigarette within the first 30 minutes of waking-up; 76.6% had made a serious attempt to quit. Data will be presented on tobacco use and SHS exposure during pregnancy for both the community sample and the smokers' cohort.

Conclusions: While smoking among men is often the first priority in tobacco control initiatives, these data indicate that smoking among women is a significant problem that should not be overlooked. Data obtained clearly support the need for tobacco intervention with a focus targeting pregnant females.

Learning Objectives:
1- Understand the tobacco use landscape in the Dominican Republic (DR)with a focus on women. 2- Describe and assess the demographic and psychosocial factors among pregnant women in the DR. 3- Identify the areas for possible intervention with this population using evidence-based approaches.

Keywords: Maternal and Child Health, Tobacco Control

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.