Review about smoking in pregnancy: prevalence, sociodemographic profile, perinatal depression, psychological variables involved and treatment

BACKGROUND // Smoking is a Public Health problem. Half of all women smokers continue to smoke during pregnancy, putting their health and that of their foetus at risk. The aim of this review was to synthesise the main studies on the prevalence and sociodemographic, psychological and obstetric profile of women who smoke during pregnancy, the relationship of stress, personality and depression with smoking during pregnancy and the most effective treatments. METHODS //We We conducted a literature review in the MEDLINE and PsycInfo databases from 2013 to 2023 on the most relevant aspects of smoking in pregnancy, including thirty studies. RESULTS // The prevalence of smoking in pregnancy is 15.7% in Spain. The socio-demographic profile of women who smoke during pregnancy is that of women with a low socioeconomic and educational level, generally without a partner or with partners who smoke and are unemployed. A relationship had been found between smoking in pregnancy and a higher probability of suffering from perinatal depression. High self-perceived stress may be a predictor variable for continued smoking in pregnancy. Personality traits such as high neuroticism appear to be related to smoking in pregnancy. Intervention to help pregnant women quit smoking must be tailored to the profile of the pregnant woman to be effective. Cognitive behavioural interventions show efficacy, especially in the long term. CONCLUSIONS // In order to design effective prevention and intervention programmes to help pregnant women quit smoking, not only the socio-demographic profile of the pregnant women should be taken into account, but also psychological variables such as personality and stress. These programmes should include cognitive behavioural interventions that teach adaptive stress management strategies to maximise their effectiveness. Special emphasis should be placed on reaching those women with the most disadvantaged profiles.