2016 to 2021 Saw Decline in Percentage of Pregnant Women Smoking

FRIDAY, Feb. 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- From 2016 to 2021, there was a decline in the percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy, with declines seen across all maternal age groups and across all race and Hispanic-origin groups, according to a January data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Joyce A. Martin, M.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues describe changes in the number and percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes at any time during pregnancy from 2016 to 2021 using data from the National Vital Statistics System.

The researchers noted a decline of more than one-third in the percentage of mothers who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy from 2016 to 2021, from 7.2 to 4.6 percent. The decline in the percentage of mothers who smoked during pregnancy was seen across all maternal age groups, with declines ranging from 6 to 47 percent. The decline was also seen across all race and Hispanic-origin groups, ranging from 24 to 50 percent. Between 2016 and 2021, there was a decline in smoking during pregnancy observed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

"The percentage of mothers who smoked during pregnancy declined 36 percent from 2016 to 2021, with the largest single-year decline of 16 percent occurring from 2020 to 2021," the authors write.

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