Maternal tobacco exposure and health-related quality of life during pregnancy: a national-based study of pregnant women in China

• Published in: Health and quality of life outcomes Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 152 - 9
• Main Authors: Sun, Weiwei, Huang, Xinyu, Wu, Huailiang, Zhang, Casper J. P., Yin, Zongzhi, Fan, Qianqian, Wang, Huiyun, Jayavanth, Pallavi, Akinwunmi, Babatunde, Wu, Yanxin, Wang, Zilian, Ming, Wai-kit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 20.05.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; China; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Demographics; Demography; Exposure; Female; First-hand smoke; Gestational age; Health aspects; Health-related quality of life; Humans; Husbands; Maternal Exposure - adverse effects; Maternal Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Passive smoking; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - chemically induced; Pregnant Women - psychology; Quality assessment; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Questionnaires; Second-hand smoke; Smoke; Smoking; Smoking in pregnancy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Third-hand smoke; Tobacco; Tobacco Products; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - adverse effects; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Variables; Variance analysis; Womens health; Young Adult; China; Pregnancy; First-hand smoke; Health-related quality of life; Third-hand smoke; Second-hand smoke
• DOI: 10.1186/s12955-021-01785-x
• ISSN: 1477-7525

With the increase of the number of smokers, tobacco exposure among pregnant women is becoming more and more common. Pregnant women exposed to first-hand smoke and second-hand smoke are susceptible to physiological and psychological health issues has been proved in previous studies. Nevertheless, there are no enough studies focus on the impact of third-hand smoke during pregnancy. This study aimed to assess and compare health-related quality of life for pregnant women with exposure to first-hand smoke, second-hand smoke, third-hand smoke and non-exposure to tobacco in mainland China. National-based cross-sectional study is based on a questionnaire survey which collects information including demographics, smoking behaviors and self-evaluation. All questionnaires were delivered and collected from August to September 2019. EuroQol group's visual analog scale and EuroQoL Five-dimension Questionnaire were used to collect data in mainland China. Totally, 15,682 pregnant women were included in this study, among which non-exposure to smoke were 7564 (48.2%), exposed to first-hand smoke, second-hand smoke and third-hand smoke were 89 (0.6%), 2349 (15.0%), and 5680 (36.2%) respectively. Pregnant women without tobacco exposure had the highest EuroQol group's visual analog scale score (mean value = 85.4[SD = 14.0]), while those with first-hand smoke had the lowest score (mean value = 77.4[SD = 22.2]). Among all five dimensions of EuroQoL Five-dimension Questionnaire, there were significant differences of EQ-index among groups with different tobacco exposure in usual activity and anxiety or depression dimensions (p < 0.001). Third-hand smoke exposure had close relationship with low health-related quality of life in pregnant women. Moreover, second-hand smoke exposure significantly led more problems on mental dimension of pregnant women.