Determinants of ETS exposure in a sample of Slovak pregnant women

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is one of the greatest and the most frequent environmental toxic exposures presenting a high risk to children and to their mothers as well. The aim of the study was to find determinants of the household ETS in the sample of pregnant women living in the household with smokers and to assess their physical and mental health. The survey was distributed to women being seen for follow-up at the obstetric/gynecology departments in hospitals and at gynecological out-patient departments in Bratislava, Slovakia. The medical outcomes short form-12 (SF-12) was included to quantify the mental and physical health of mothers. From the total sample of 617 women, 35.5% (219) were pregnant, 88.6% of them (194) non-smokers, 27.8% (54) lived with a smoking partner, the average mental component summary (MCS) score was 50.8±9.1 and physical component summary (PCS) score was 41.6±10.3. The average age was 31.3±5.1 years. In the sample of 309 non-pregnant non-smoking mothers 23% (71) lived with a smoking partner; the average age was 31.7±4.8 years. The average PCS score was 47.8±8.7 and MCS score 49.1±9. Non-smoking, pregnant women living with a smoker have fewer years of education (p=0.0003) and lower MCS scores (48.50±9.8) (p=0.03). Non-smoking, non-pregnant women living with a smoker are older (p=0.0042), with lower income (p=0.0145), have fewer years of education (p=0.002) and lower PCS score (45±9.1) (p=0.0056). Multivariate analyses revealed the decrease of MCS score in pregnant women and the decrease of PCS score in non-pregnant women living with a smoker. Our results show that living with a smoker is independently associated with worse physical and mental health in a selected sample of Slovak women, which represents an important argument for intervention in families.</jats:p>

Self-Reported Exposure to ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke), Urinary Cotinine and Oxidative Stress Parameters in Pregnant Women – the Pilot Study

“…The results of our previous studies show that ETS is one of the most important health hazards influencing the physical and mental health of the exposed non-smoking partners [20]. The study published by the members of our research team on a nationally representative data from the year 2000 to 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey in the USA [18] showed a relationship between living with smokers and worsened maternal physical and mental health in non-smoking mothers with children.…”

“…Researchers from the Comenius University's Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/Gyn) Department and Institute of Hygiene in Bratislava, Slovakia distributed surveys to pregnant women in the 36th − 41st week of pregnancy being seen for the follow-up at the OB/Gyn Department of the Faculty Hospital and Clinic. This survey is the continuation and re-analysis of the previous survey that was designed to evaluate environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial factors in the lives of women [20]. The results of the study have shown that ETC exposure is an independent risk factor associated with the worse physical health of non-smoking mothers in the reproductive age and the worse mental health in the smaller sample of pregnant women [20].…”

“…This survey is the continuation and re-analysis of the previous survey that was designed to evaluate environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial factors in the lives of women [20]. The results of the study have shown that ETC exposure is an independent risk factor associated with the worse physical health of non-smoking mothers in the reproductive age and the worse mental health in the smaller sample of pregnant women [20]. In the present study, we have enlarged the sample of the pregnant women and objectified the self-reported smoking and ETS exposure by the levels of urinary cotinine.…”

“…In the present study 319 (average age 30.84 ± 5.09) healthy pregnant women without any medical treatment were included and in 80 of them (average age 30.24 ±4.92 years) the levels of cotinine and oxidative stress markers in urine specimens were analyzed from March to June 2018. Exposure to tobacco smoke as well as the analysis of the lifestyle and demographic determinants of passive smoking were assessed by the validated Questionnaire for mothers used in the previous study [20]. Based on the obtained data we have evaluated the environmental, behavioral and psychosocial factors in the mother's life.…”

“…There have been many studies pointing to the harmful effects of passive smoking on exposed groups of adults, children, pregnant women and their fetuses [13,[16][17][18][19][20].…”