How many pregnant women smoke in your town? Map reveals expectant mothers in North East Lincolnshire are 11 times more likely to have the bad habit than those in London
- The areas where smoking among pregnancy is most common have been shamed
- Almost a quarter of pregnant women smoke in North East Lincolnshire
- But the figure is just 2.3 per cent in West London, the least affected area
- Experts say expectant mothers need to be given more help to stop smoking
The areas where pregnant women are most likely to smoke have been revealed in a map of England.
NHS figures have named and shamed the areas where the most expectant mothers are guilty of smoking cigarettes.
Around a quarter of mothers-to-be in North East Lincolnshire are known smokers – with similar rates in Blackpool and Mansfield.
In comparison, rates of smoking in pregnant are around 11 times lower in boroughs of London, coming in at around the two per cent mark.
Experts have today warned not enough progress is being made and called on the Government to help kick the habit.
Women in the north-east and East Midlands (red) are the most likely to smoke while they’re pregnant – with the highest figure being 24.9 per cent in North East Lincolnshire – whereas women in London and the south have the lowest levels of smoking when expecting
Quarterly data from NHS Digital today showed 10.5 per cent of English women are known to be smokers when they give birth.
This figure shoots up to a quarter – 24.9 per cent – in North East Lincolnshire, 24.5 per cent in Blackpool and 23.3 per cent in Mansfield and Ashfield.
Thanet and Swale, in Kent, and the city of Hull all also had pregnancy smoking rates of one in five women or more.
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Smoking rates drop to as low as 2.3 per cent in West London, 2.6 per cent in Central London and 2.7 per cent in the city’s borough of Ealing.
The NHS’s national ambition is to have six per cent of women or fewer smoking during pregnancy – but only 31 out of 195 local NHS trusts have met this ambition.
And 107 areas have smoking in pregnancy levels higher than the 10.5 per cent national average.
‘Smoking in pregnancy is the leading preventable cause of miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal deaths,’ said Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health.
‘Yet over 10 per cent of women smoke during pregnancy and the proportion has barely changed in recent years.
‘If the Government is to achieve its ambition to reduce smoking in pregnancy to below six per cent it is essential the NHS long-term plan ensures all pregnant smokers, who find it hard to quit because they tend to be heavily addicted, get the help they need to quit.’
The 10.5 per cent figure for the whole of England is slightly higher – 0.1 per cent – than in the first quarter of this year, but the figure has been falling for years.
One in six mothers in 2007 (15.8 per cent) admitted to being smokers at the time they gave birth.
WHERE IN ENGLAND DO THE MOST WOMEN SMOKE WHILE PREGNANT?
WHERE IN ENGLAND DO THE FEWEST WOMEN SMOKE WHILE PREGNANT?
Smoking tobacco when pregnant has for years been known to be seriously damaging to the baby’s health, as well as the mother’s.
It increases the risk of a miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight, breathing problems, complications in labour, and sudden infant death syndrome.
Children whose parents smoke are also more likely to develop asthma when they grow up.
Dr Nick Hopkinson, medical director at the British Lung Foundation added: ‘Smoking during pregnancy is a big health risk for mothers and children, so it’s vital that women get the help and treatment they need.
‘Unfortunately, reductions in public health funding mean that stop smoking services are being cut.
‘Parental smoking also increases the risk that children will become smokers so the health problems are passed down through generations.’
Regionally, mothers in the north of England have the highest rates of smoking during pregnancy – with 13.7 per cent of them doing it, the data show.
Whereas London is the only entire region which is below the NHS target – 5.1 per cent of mothers there are known to be smokers at the time of delivery.
The new figures show data for July to September 2018, and are taken from local NHS surveys of new mothers.
Women answer questions themselves about whether or not they smoke, so the real figures could be higher because people might lie to avoid being judged.
A total of 153,987 babies were born in the period covered by the figures, meaning more than 16,000 people were born to smoking mothers in just three months.
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