Experts look at how to reduce smoking

Oct 30 2007 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

HEALTH experts from across the country meet in the North-East today for a regional summit to bring down smoking rates in mums-to-be.

The Smoking and Maternal and Child Health conference will see health chiefs discuss and identify how to reduce smoking rates among women of child bearing age.

Smoking remains the number one cause of premature death in the region and up to half the difference in life expectancy between the most and least affluent groups is down to the killer habit.

The topic has already been given major focus in the region’s first health strategy, Better Health Fairer Health, which was launched last month and focuses on reducing the rates of smoking in pregnancy.

Now the summit on Teesside has been organised by Fresh – Smoke Free North-East – which is urgently calling for a review of the work currently being delivered in the region to address the issue of smoking and pregnancy, as well as reducing health inequalities among mums-to-be. Ailsa Rutter, director for Fresh said: “Smoking can compromise the capacity to have a family, and parental smoking can have long term and serious consequences for child health.

“Exposure to secondhand smoke is a risk during pregnancy, and harms infants and children, but the good news is that quitting smoking reduces or eliminates many of the risks to reproductive life and health.”

She said the summit would act as a “vital forum” for all health professionals to thoroughly address smoking and pregnancy.

“Clear messages on the dangers of smoking and pregnancy must be given to women and their families in general and not just after a pregnancy occurs. We hope that the summit will enhance the importance of this issue and make it a much greater priority within the whole health service.”

Although the North-East has good support for pregnant women and their families to quit through the local NHS Stop Smoking Services, smoking rates among pregnant women remain high, with around 25% of babies in the North-East born to mothers who have smoked throughout pregnancy.

The health strategy, which aims to transform the health of the region within a generation – 25 years – is proposing to publish six monthly statistics on smoking during pregnancy as part of a wider marketing campaign to highlight the danger to babies of smoking during and after pregnancy.

As a consequence birth weights are lower and infant mortality is higher than is would otherwise be.

Report author Dr Stephen Singleton is proposing to lobbying and campaign on the content on cigarettes and the availability of delivery modes of tobacco.

He said: “Smoking is outstandingly the single most important of all factors impacting adversity on health on the North-East.

“Reducing the rate of smoking in pregnancy is a key priority.”

------------------------------------------------------------------ Phased approach to stubbing out the habit

SMOKING is implicated in a fifth of all deaths in the North-East.

It accounts for half of the total inequality of health between the richest and poorest groups in the population.

Around 25% of babies in the North-East are born to mothers who have smoked throughout pregnancy. It is proposed that a formal regional prevalence target should be adopted – aiming for a regional prevalence of no more than 23% by the end of 2010 and 20% or below the national average by 2015 and an absolute level of only 10% by 2032.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Children pushed Heather to quit

MOTHER-OF-TWO Heather Butler stopped smoking before the birth of her third child.

The 24-year-old had smoked for 12 years and tried to give up twice before.

Heather from Bamburgh Grove, South Shields, was unaware of the potential risks to her babies caused by smoking during pregnancy.

It was her two older children Chloe, nine, and six-year-old Connor who gave her the final push to quit before the birth of Austin, now five months.

She said: “I was smoking about 20 cigarettes a day. I had given up about one year before I got pregnant with Austin but I started again when I began socialising more. My children were telling me to stop smoking as they had been learning about stopping smoking at school. They were coming home and telling me my lungs would be black and it made me feel really terrible.”

Heather believes more awareness nowadays as to the possible consequences of smoking during pregnancy helped her quit. “I smoked during my other two pregnancies and as they were fine I didn’t realise the dangers. When I found out I was pregnant I thought I would give it a go.”

After a failed attempt Ms Butler quit with the help of Nicotine Replacement Therapy patches and enjoyed five months of smoke-free pregnancy.

Austin was born on June 15, weighting 9lbs 3ounces and, with the help of a stop smoking adviser from NHS Stop Smoking Services, Heather has resisted the temptation to smoke again.

The Big Quit Campaign is encouraging people to stop smoking with the help of NHS services. Staff monitor progress with a smoke-free breathalyser, and will tell you about the different nicotine replacement therapies and other stop smoking products. To find the service nearest to you go to https://data.gosmokefree.co.uk /localservicesearch.aspx

For more information on the Big Quit visit http://www.thebigquit.co.uk