Mums smoking future

Call for nicotine replacement in pregnancy

NICOTINE replacement therapies could help reduce the harm to both mothers and babies as alarming figures showing almost a fifth of Northern Queensland mums smoked while pregnant.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s new Child and Maternal Health 2013-15 report presents findings on four indicators measuring the health of babies and their mothers: infant and young child deaths, low birthweight, mothers smoking during pregnancy and mothers attending antenatal care services during the first trimester.

The report shows that between 2013-15, 16.7 per cent of all Northern Queensland women smoked in pregnancy.

In the period 2012-14, the figure was 17.6 per cent.

Almost 50 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers in the region smoked between 2013-15.

Cairns Doctors general practitioner Dr Heather McNamee said the issue was “very fraught”.

“If you go in too hard a lot of women will hide it. We need to be a lot more proactive about nicotine replacement during pregnancy. The labels say nicotine patches shouldn’t be used by pregnant women but I think we should ignore that,” she said.

“Nicotine is so much less harmful to mums and their babies. I’m not sure how much more education we can do with the public on the issue.”

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service medical services executive director Dr Nicki Murdock said the figures were “concerning”.

“Numerous studies have shown smoking during pregnancy can lead to a range of complications, including an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth and unexpected death in infants – just to name a few,” she said.

“There is no safe level of smoking – the more cigarettes you smoke while pregnant, the more harm you do to yourself and your baby.

“Smoking cessation interventions are a routine part of antenatal care within the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service.”

The report also shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies and those outside metropolitan areas recorded poorer results.