North mums-to-be continue smoking (From The Northern Echo)

North mums-to-be continue smoking

8:00am Friday 17th February 2012 in NHS & Health News By Barry Nelson, Health Editor

'WINNING THE BATTLE': Dr Shonag Mackenzie

WOMEN in the North-East are nearly three times more likely to be smokers when they give birth than women in London, according to shock new figures.

Statistics from the NHS Information Centre for the period from last October to December show that the North-East had the highest proportion of women who smoke at delivery – 20.2 per cent, or one in five.

This compares with London, which had the lowest proportion of women who smoke at the time of delivery – 6.1 per cent, or one in 16.

This was in line with a general North-South divide.

But North-East consultant obstetrician Dr Shonag Mackenzie said the figures are actually moving in the right direction.

“It is taking time, but we are winning,” said Dr Mackenzie, who is based at the Wansbeck Hospital, in Ashington, Northumberland.

“We are actually down from the most recent figures. In 2010, we had 21.2 per cent smoking at delivery and that is now down to 20.2 per cent.

That trend has now been consistent for two quarters.”

Dr Mackenzie added: “We are referring more pregnant women to smoking cessation and most hospitals are offering pregnant women carbon monoxide monitoring when they book.”

She said all pregnant women are now targeted to try to persuade them to give up and the involvement of smoking advisors was now “seamless”.

While she praised women for taking on the challenge of giving up “highly addictive”

cigarettes she said that obstetricians in the region were still seeing miscarriages, small babies and stillbirths associated with mothers who smoked during pregnancy.

Professor Eugene Milne, deputy director of public health for the North-East Strategic Health Authority, said: “We are finding increasingly that women want to hear the unvarnished truth – which is that smoking is always bad for your baby and can be fatal.”

Ann Marie Wright, 21, from Darlington, smoked during pregnancy with her first son, Alfie, and believes she is lucky that her son was healthy when he was born.

But before her second pregnancy – the baby is due in May – she signed up with her local NHS smoking cessation team and managed to stop smoking relatively easily.

“I stopped smoking nearly six months ago and I haven’t even used patches or lozenges for two months. I feel so much better for it,” she said.