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Health: Smoking Parents-To-Be 'Should Consider Quitting Together'

BBC NEWS [11/09/98]

Pregnant women are more likely to quit smoking if their partner gives up.

Pregnant women whose partners do not smoke are twice as likely to quit as those with a smoking partner, according to a psychological survey.

Psychologists surveyed 620 women and found that those whose partners stopped smoking with them were much more likely to reduce their tobacco intake or stop.

One in six

Dr Appleton advised that couples should consider trying to give up smoking together when the woman becomes pregnant.

About a third of women of child-bearing age smoke. According to a recent study by the Health Education Authority (HEA), only one in six quit when they become pregnant and the numbers have not changed over the past five years.

The HEA also found a link between social deprivation and smoking.

Young women who were unemployed, working in manual jobs or single were more likely to smoke than others.

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