Passive Smoking and Pregnancy Outcome

Objective: To evaluate the association between passive smoking and adverse reproductive effects or pregnancy outcomes among Jordanian pregnant women. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective study which was conducted at Prince Rashid Ben Alhasan hospital between 2011 and 2013. Total samples of 4125 newborns were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of these newborns included: gestational age, gender, birth weight, congenital anomaly, mode of delivery and admission to NICU. Maternal characteristics of Jordanian women according to passive smoking included: age, parity, weight, and income. Results: Pregnancy outcome for Jordanian women according to passive smoking status indicated that passive smoking is related with stillbirth with an incidence of 1.0%, low birth weight in 11.9%, pre-term delivery in 12.5%, congenital anomaly in 1.6%, caesarean delivery in 23.7% and need for admission in NICU in 35.4%. The result indicated that exposure to passive smoking during pregnancy had adverse effects on low birth weight, admission to NICU, and need for antibiotic significantly, pvalue <.0005. Conclusion: Exposure to passive smoking during pregnancy had adverse effects on pregnancy outcome. Adverse reproductive effects are serious and costly health problems that have a huge impact on morbidity and mortality rate in all societies.