Does maternal tobacco smoking modify the effect of alcohol on fetal growth?

Smoking and drinking habits were registered by a self-administered questionnaire in 36th week of gestation in 11,698 pregnant women, more than 80 percent of all such women in two Danish cities 1984-87. Alcohol consumption of 120 g/week or more was associated with a greater reduction in the average birthweight in the babies of smokers than of non-smokers (about 40 grams for the non-smokers and about 200 grams for the smokers). This is particularly striking considering that the average birthweight for smokers is lower than for non-smokers. A birthweight difference of more than 500 grams was found between babies of mothers who neither smoked nor drank and mothers who smoked and drank heavily. Our data suggest that women's smoking habits should be taken into consideration when giving pregnant women advice about drinking.

[Consumption of alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy by health advisors. An investigation of nurses, nurses' aides, physicians and school teachers]. / Sundhedsrådgiveres brug af alkohol og tobak under graviditeten. En undersøgelse af sygeplejersker, sygehjaelpere, laeger og skolelaerere.

Health staff and elementary school teachers are key persons in prophylactic activity which is based on personal contact between the advisor and recipient. It is conceivable that their own habits play a part in how prophylactic information is distributed. This investigation describes how groups such as these consume alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy. As part of a local community experiment in which pregnant women in Odense participated in an information campaign from April 1985 to April 1987, information was collected concerning the habits of pregnant women until the 36th week of pregnancy. This information was collected in self-completed questionnaires which were sent anonymously to the Department of Social Medicine in Odense University. 87% out of the 13,815 pregnant women who attended midwives' clinics from April 1984 to April 1987 in Odense and Aalborg were included in the investigation. The following groups were selected for further analysis: nurses (627 women), nursing aides (492 women), doctors (85 women) and school teachers (468 women) and the group of office workers (1,136 women) was employed for comparison. The investigation revealed that school teachers, doctors and nurses had higher average consumption of alcohol during pregnancy than office workers. On the other hand, these groups has fewer episodes with consumption of eight or more drinks on a single occasion. Similarly, elementary school teachers, and the health groups (with the exception of nursing aides) smoked less. This investigation provided no evidence that these selected groups altered their habits on account of the informative campaigns which were directed to all pregnant women in the Odense region.