Smoking prevalence among perinatal women: the role of socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity.

Baseline data were collected as part of an intervention project designed to reduce substance abuse among pregnant and postpartum women in Waterbury. Personal interviews, including questions on smoking behavior were conducted with a sample of 503 perinatal women. African American and Hispanic women represented respectively 11.8% and 10.2% of the population. Twenty-six percent of respondents reported they smoked cigarettes during pregnancy which exceeds the nationally comparable rate of 19.1%. Socioeconomic status was a stronger predictor of smoking status than other sociodemographic variables. Logistic regression analysis showed that lower socioeconomic status women were 3.7 times (P < .001) more likely to smoke during pregnancy than their higher status counterparts. Hispanics were 70% (P < .01) less likely to smoke than Whites and there were no significant differences between respondents based on race, marital status, age, or source of prenatal care. The authors conclude that smoking during pregnancy continues to be a major problem requiring multifaceted interventions and attention to underlying structural factors.