BACKGROUND While smoking prevalence in Korean men has been decreasing, it is increasing in Korean women. Little is known about women's smoking inequalities in Korea. This study was conducted to investigate the association of socioeconomic indicators with the initiation and cessation of smoking among Korean women. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study on 9,089 women aged 25-64 years from th...

BACKGROUND Despite the existence of various published studies regarding the effects of tobacco smoking on pregnancy, and especially in regards to placental blood flow and vascular resistance, some points still require clarification. In addition, the amount of damage due to tobacco smoking exposure that occurs has not been quantified by objective means. In this study, we looked for a possible as...

OBJECTIVES This report presents trends and variations in smoking during pregnancy in the United States. Data are presented for various characteristics including mother's age, race, ethnic origin, place of birth and State of residence, live birth order, and birthweight. METHODS Descriptive tabulations of data reported on the birth certificates are presented. RESULTS The percentage of women w...

AIM To investigate whether maternal smoking remains associated with decreased breastfeeding duration after adjustment for the mother's infant feeding intention. METHOD Pregnant women resident within Avon, UK, expected to give birth between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992 were recruited in a longitudinal cohort study. Main outcome measures included maternal infant feeding intention at 32 wk ...

BACKGROUND We analyzed changes in smoking by length of stay among immigrants in Germany and related them to the "smoking epidemic" model and the acculturation theory. METHODS We used data from a longitudinal survey (German Socio-economic Panel). Immigrants were identified by country of birth (Turkey: respondents n = 828, observations n = 3871; Eastern Europe: respondents n = 2009, observation...

BACKGROUND Mortality from smoking-related diseases in women is increasing worldwide. Studies comparing hazards associated with smoking in women and men based on a sufficient number of heavy smokers of both genders are lacking. METHODS We used pooled data from three prospective population studies conducted in Copenhagen to compare total and cause-specific mortality in relation to smoking habit...

BACKGROUND For a female population with a high lung cancer mortality rate, such as Taiwanese women, who smoke relatively rarely, but live in an environment with high male smoking prevalence, the risk and population burden of lung cancer due to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) are relatively important. METHODS An age-matched case-control study was designed to investigate the effects of cumula...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that self-reports tend to underestimate smoking status, especially among women in Korea. We therefore assessed the characteristics of Korean women smokers who falsely described themselves as non-smokers. METHODS The subjects were 4,135 adult women aged ≥19 years who participated in the 2008 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Of thes...

BACKGROUND Both low and high serum phosphate levels may be associated with morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. As smoking increases risk for type 2 diabetes (as shown by dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia), we wanted to study whether smoking and type 2 diabetes were associated with serum phosphate and triglyceride levels independently from other CVD risk factors. METHODS Upon adm...

INTRODUCTION Guidelines recommend assessment of smoking status, with advice and support for smoking cessation, as a routine and integral part of antenatal care. Approximately 50% of pregnant Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women smoke through pregnancy, 3 times the rate of other pregnant Australian women. This study describes smoking cessation assessment and support reported by...