Banning tobacco in public places reduces the number of premature deliveries
There are many problems related to tobacco. Not only for those who smoke, those who surround smokers also suffer these negative consequences. The presence of these fumes during the pregnancy it has quite serious results in both the mother and the fetus.
An example is the increased risk of childbirth premature. Fortunately, the different initiatives against tobacco have managed to reduce the risks derived from cigarette smoke for mothers and their children. In particular, as pointed out by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, AEP, the prohibition of these products in public places has managed to reduce the number of births before time.
Less tobacco, less premature
To analyze the relationship between tobacco and childbirth premature, AEP has analyzed the five million born in the period between the year 2000 and 2013. On the one hand, the number of births before the end was reviewed and on the other, the presence of restrictive tobacco laws.
In those periods of total prohibition of smoking in places of work and closed public spaces there was a decrease in children newly born of low weight. Another example of how to restrict exposure to fumes from pregnant women helps improve the health of mothers and children who have not yet been born.
Therefore, from AEP it is encouraged that the smoke restriction does not remain in the public sphere. Pediatricians advise to reduce the tobacco exposure of pregnant women in the public sphere. Maintain a good diet, reduce the amount of cigarettes which are consumed, or directly quit smoking, are some of the recommendations for those couples who are expecting a child.
Increase in passive smoking
While anti-smoking laws have reduced premature births, ironically the number of passive smokers has increased. This is demonstrated by a study conducted by the University of Granada. The researchers collected data from 118 children belonging to the cohort of the INMA-Granada, research project Children and Environment. Statistics before and after the entry of regulations against tobacco. The results showed that far from helping to prevent passive smokers, this Law caused the opposite, an increase of this number.
If in the section of the 2005 to the 2006 the nicotine level in these children was 8.0 ng / ml, in the years 2011-2012 it was 8.7 ng / ml. Results that have two explanations, on the one hand the increase in consumption at home and in the car. "Our results indicate that the ban on smoking in public places and work has moved consumption to private places, contrary to what has been described in other studies that say that prohibiting smoking in bars does not increase consumption at home," says the principal author of this work, Mariana Fernández Cabrera, from the Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine of the University of Granada.
On the other hand, the Anti-Tobacco Law has not reduced the number of smokers either. The number of families with at least one tobacco consumer member increased by 39%, in the stretch 2005 to 2006, to 50.8%, from 2011 to 2012. A growth also appreciated in mothers (20.3% vs. 29.7%) and parents (33.9% vs. 39.0%) who also participated in this study. A situation that researchers attribute to the economic crisis, which has caused many people to resort to these articles as an anti-stress method.
Damián Montero
