The relationship between indirect inhalation of cigarette smoke in the mother and the birth weight of the baby

Abstract Background: Environmental tobacco smoke is one of the contaminating causes of air in closed areas and this can affect human fetus. Objective: To detect the correlation between passive smoker mothers and birth weight of infants. Methods: This was a descriptive and analytical study in which 440 parturient women participated. The cases were questioned during the first hours of their post delivery stay in Hajar hospital. Information such as age and height of mothers, number of pregnancies, weight gain in pregnancy, number of cigarettes smoked in presence of mother and also the birth weight of infants were all recorded. Statistical tools such as t-test, 2 and multivariate regression tests were used to analyze the data. Findings: The results showed that 161 (36/6 %) of mothers were passive smokers. In this group, the mean of birth weight was 139 gr less than those from non smoker mothers (p<0/001). There was no significant difference between the birth weight and the number of cigarettes passively smoked, weight gain in pregnancy, number of pregnancies, age and the height of mother Conclusion: In order to prevent the environmental side-effect of tobacco smoking, it is necessary to stop smoking in public places. Also educating the family members to avoid smoking during pregnancy and as part of pregnancy cares is of crucial importance.