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More help needed for smoking mums
Monday, 10 November 2008The paper, co-authored with Queensland Health’s Rachael-Anne Wills and published in the Medical Journal of Australia, shows that antenatal smoking continues to be a big risk factor for poor health in newborn babies.
The study of almost 80 000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous babies born in Queensland in 2005 and 2006 showed that those born to smokers were at greater risk of being premature or of low birth weight.
One in five of the babies studied were born to mothers who smoked while pregnant. The percentage of Indigenous mothers who smoked (54%) was almost triple that for non-Indigenous smokers (16%).
Dr Coory, who is an Associate Professor at the School of Population Health and a medical epidemiologist at Queensland Health, said that smoking should be regarded as a chronic medical condition requiring treatment during pregnancy as it has serious long term consequences for the mother and her baby.
“Since most pregnant smokers receive their antenatal care in the public system, state and federal governments have a particular responsibility to ensure that interventions are offered to all pregnant smokers to help them quit smoking.”
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