Prenatal Tobacco Exposure and Neonate Birth Weight Ramadani Mery1,*, Utomo Budi2 1Department of Reproductive Health, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia 2Department of Biostatistics and Population, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia *Corresponding Author: Mery Ramadani Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Andalas Phone: +6281314475847 Email: meryramadani81@yahoo.com
Online published on 21 February, 2019. Abstract Background Smoking is a global problem and serious threat to the health of pregnant women and fetus. Nicotine contained in cigarette smoke stimulates vasoconstriction of blood vessels, reduces the flow of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus, hence it inhibits the fetal growth. The aim of study was to assess the effects of exposure to cigarette smoke in pregnant women toward birth weight. Method Prospective study was carried out on the third-trimester pregnant women who were non-smokers, pregnant with a single fetus, did not suffer from chronic diseases and followed until delivery. Assessment of smoking exposure referred to nicotine levels of umbilical cord blood ≥1ng/ml. Mean difference test analysis was used to determine the difference in birth weight between groups. Linear regression analysis was to find out the effects of passive smoking on birth weight by paying attention to confounding variables. Result The results of study found that birth weight of infants from passive smoker mothers were lower than those mothers who were not passive smokers. Passive smoking significantly reduces the infant's weight by 195.9 grams after controlled by weight before pregnancy. Conclusions Exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy can reduce birth weight. Top Keywords Secondhand Smoke, Nicotine, Birth weight. Top |