Mums-to-be in smoking shock

Dec 19 2007 By Eddie Docherty, East Kilbride News

THE number of women who smoke during pregnancy in Lanarkshire is above the Scottish average.

The shocking statistic was revealed when NHS Lanarkshire released the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for 2006.

The report covered all aspects of the health of those within the NHS Lanarkshire area including smoking, alcohol, disease, eating disorders and sexual health.

As well as the disappointing smoking during pregnancy findings, it also showed alcohol related problems in Lanarkshire are getting worse despite major campaigns to try and curb the problem..

There was further grim reading in a section which showed children in deprived areas of the county are three times more likely to suffer dental decay and require urgent dental treatment than those in more affluent areas.

The correlation between areas of deprivation and poor public health, featured prominently in the report to NHS Lanarkshire which was presented by the director of public health, Dr Dorothy Moir.

In the report Dr Moir tells how smoking in pregnancy is the single most preventable cause of foetal disease.

She stressed that smoking and pregnancy is also associated with miscarriage, low birthweight and stillbirth.

On a slightly positive note, it showed that while the problem was above the Scottish average, it has been steadily decreasing among those in the most deprived areas.

On alcohol, the numbers of those discharged from hospital after suffering from booze related illnesses, continues to rise for both men and women mirroring the national trend.

Once again, those who live in the most deprived areas were six times more likely to be admitted to hospital with an alcohol related illness than those in more affluent areas.

Introducing her report, Dr Moir said: “While life expectancy is increasing, deprived parts of Lanarkshire have not shown sustained improvement in recent years.

“Cancer deaths in the county have declined gradually over the last 10 years but the gap between the most and least deprived areas has gradually increased.

“A large part of this can be attributed to cancers related to smoking.”

She added: “The prevalence of smoking in pregnancy in Lanarkshire continues to be higher than the Scottish average, however, it is steadily decreasing among women from the most deprived sector.

“Among the more affluent, there has been very little improvement.”

The report can be viewed at nhslanarkshire.co.uk