Summary

Description

This report presents the latest results and trends from the women's smoking status at time of delivery (SATOD) data collection in England. It includes new figures for the first quarter of 2012/13. The results provide a measure of the prevalence of smoking among pregnant women at Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Primary Care Trust (PCT) levels. This supplements the national information available from the quinquennial Infant Feeding Survey (IFS). Babies from deprived backgrounds are more likely to be born to mothers who smoke, and to have much greater exposure to secondhand smoke in childhood. Smoking remains one of the few modifiable risk factors in pregnancy. It can cause a range of serious health problems, including lower birth weight, pre-term birth, placental complications and perinatal mortality. Reports in the series prior to 2011/12 quarter 3 are available from the Department of Health website.