Smoking Ban Reduces Preterm Deliveries

A study was conducted in Scotland, where smoking was banned in public areas, to show that smoking ban has substantially reduced the number of preterm deliveries by more than 10 percent. Researchers at the University of Glasgow conducted this study.  It has been found that there has been a decrease of 5 percent in the number of infants born small for their gestational age.

According to researchers, study has given strong evidences to prove that taboo control legislation has had positive effects on health of everyone.

To carry out the study, researchers gathered data on all babies born in Scotland between January 1996 and December 2009.  They also found that after the implication of legislation, the number of expected mothers, who smoked, dropped down from 25.4 percent to 18.8 percent.

Scotland was the first country in the UK to prohibit smoking in public places. Researchers also noted a decrease of more than 10 percent in the total number of preterm deliveries. A reduction of 5 percent was registered in the number of infants, who were small for their gestational age. Almost 8 percent of decrease was seen on the number of infants, who were too small and weak for their gestational age.  

The study effectively demonstrated the effects of smoking on expecting mothers of both types-smokers and non-smokers.  The effects on expecting mothers, who did not smoke, showed the ill effects of passive smoking on people’s health.

The study appeared online on March 6 in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Jill Pell of the University of Glasgow led this study and concluded that the health-benefits of smoke-free legislation in Scotland strongly support the adoption of the same by other countries where nothing of this sort of legislation exists. The study has been successful to show the link between the smoking ban and decrease in preterm births.