The impact of smoking during pregnancy on preterm birth

Uvod: Čas nosečnosti in poroda uvrščamo med fiziološke procese, vendar pa obstaja veliko dejavnikov, ki lahko močno vplivajo na zdravje še nerojenega otroka in bodoče matere. Eden izmed njih je kajenje. Kajenje je lahko eden izmed vzrokov, ki povzročijo prezgodnji porod, nizko porodno težo ter umrljivost otrok takoj po rojstvu ali v zgodnjem otroštvu. Metode: Uporabili smo sistematični pregled, analizo in sintezo znanstvene in strokovne literature iz zbirk podatkov Pub Med, CINAHL in Web of Science. Omejitveni kriteriji so bili celotno dostopni članki v angleškem jeziku, objavljeni med letoma 2011 in 2021. Oblikovan je bil konceptualni model PICOT s ključnimi besedami: nosečnice, kajenje med nosečnostjo in prezgodnji porod. Ocena kakovosti dokazov je prikazana v hierarhiji dokazov. Podatki so obdelani s tematsko analizo. Rezultati: V končni pregled je bilo vključenih 10 člankov. Oblikovali smo glavno vsebinsko kategorijo z naslovov vpliv kajenja v nosečnosti na prezgodnji porod in najpogostejši podkategoriji škodljivi vplivi in izidi nosečnosti. Glavna ugotovitev našega pregleda literature je bila, da kajenje močno vpliva na prezgodnji porod. Razprava in sklep: Raziskava potrjuje, da na prezgodnji porod lahko vpliva čas nosečnosti, ko je nosečnica kadila, ter število dnevno pokajenih cigaret. Otroci nosečnic, ki so med nosečnostjo kadile, lahko imajo težave pri kognitivnem razvoju, pojavijo se jim lahko bolezni dihal, srčno-žilnega in živčnega sistema ter so bolj podvrženi alergijam. S preventivnim ravnanjem preprečimo veliko prezgodnjih porodov in ostalih zapletov po njem. Smiselno bi bilo, da bi zdravstveni delavci pogosteje in učinkoviteje izobraževali populacijo o škodljivosti kajenja. Posebno pozornost pa bi posvetili nosečnicam.Introduction: The gestation period and birth constitute physiological processes yet can be affected by various factors. These may greatly impact the well-being of the unborn child and the expectant mother – one such factor is smoking. It can cause preterm birth, low birth weight as well as increase the mortality of children post-partum or in early childhood. Methods: The study utilizes systematic overview, analysis and synthesis of scientific and professional literature from the databases Pub Med, CINAHL and Web of science. The search limits included all open-access English papers published between 2011 and 2021. The conceptual method PICOT was used with key words including: expectant women, smoking during pregnancy, and preterm birth. The assessment of the evidence quality is showcased in the hierarchy of evidence. The data were processed by thematic analysis. Results: The final overview included 10 papers. The main content category was named Effects of smoking during pregnancy on preterm birth while the most common subcategories were negative effects and birth outcomes. Our research’s chief finding was that smoking greatly impacts the rate of preterm births. Discussion and conclusion: The research confirms that preterm birth may be affected by the period in which the expectant mother indulges in smoking and her daily cigarette intake. The affected children may have issues with cognitive development, diseases of the respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems as well being prone to allergies. By acting preventatively we avert a great deal of preterm births and ensuing complications. It is reasonable that healthcare workers educate the public on the hazards of smoking with special attention laid on pregnant women