New data shows that 1 in 14 women, in America, smoke while they are pregnant.
Approximately 7.2percent of pregnant women have admitted to smoking during their pregnancy. The results have been released by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in America.
According to CNN, the report hasn’t elaborated on the quantity or frequency of the cigarettes being smoked. The figure given was an average of all the states with West Virginia being the worst with 25.1percent of pregnant women smoking, while California only had 1.6percent.
Smoking ,in general, is known to cause many health complications such as lung cancer and heart disease, but it can be very dangerous for the development of the baby during pregnancy. It has been known to cause early labour, stillbirths and sudden infant death syndrome, according to CDC’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System.
Commenting on the result, Patrick Drake, senior author of the report has said:
“Despite the well-understood risk to mother and child, still, about one of every 14 women in the United States smoked during pregnancy. These levels do vary widely by state, maternal age, race and Hispanic origin, and education, but any amount of smoking during pregnancy is too much.”
