RTI International - News Release - 1.29.2009
Social Factors Affect Black Women's Ability to Avoid Secondhand Smoke During Pregnancy
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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—Social factors, such as having family members who smoke, were the strongest determinant in black women's ability to avoid secondhand smoke during pregnancy, according to a new study.
Previous research has shown that black women experience more adverse pregnancy affects from smoking and secondhand smoke than white women.
This study, published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, was conducted by investigators from The George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health & Health Services, Children's National Medical Center, RTI International, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Researchers examined whether black, non-smoking women were able to avoid secondhand smoke exposure early in pregnancy and the social contextual factors that affected their success in avoiding secondhand smoke.
"Our study highlights the importance of comprehensive prenatal screening to identify a woman's psychosocial and behavioral risk factors," said Nabil El-Khorazatzy, Ph.D., a senior research statistician at RTI and the paper's co-author. "Before addressing secondhand smoking exposure, it is important to gain a complete understanding of the social context of a woman's pregnancy. While providing behavioral counseling and skills-based interventions, it is important to consider other factors that could exacerbate risks for intimate partner violence and poor pregnancy outcomes."
The researchers collected data from more than 1,000 women as part of a randomized, multiple-risk behavior intervention trial that addressed four risks for adverse pregnancy outcomes including cigarette smoking, secondhand smoke exposure, depression and intimate partner violence.
The results showed that 27 percent of pregnant nonsmokers avoided secondhand smoke. The women who were most successful at avoiding secondhand smoke reported having household smoking bans, few or no family members or friends who smoked and fathers who wanted the baby.
Women who were least likely to avoid secondhand smoke reported being in a relationship, having had incidents of intimate partner violence during pregnancy and receiving little social support to prevent secondhand smoke exposure.