Women and smoking: patterns, health effects, and treatments.

Tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable death among women in the United States. Of particular concern to obstetricians and gynecologists is the morbidity caused by tobacco use and by exposure to secondhand smoke among women of childbearing age, pregnant women, and their newborns. Women who smoke have lower fertility rates and are more likely to experience negative side effects from oral contraceptives. Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to suffer miscarriages and to have low birth weight and preterm babies, and infants with sudden infant death syndrome. Over one of every four women aged 18 to 44 smoke in the U.S. Unfortunately, at least 14% of women smoke during pregnancy. The good news is that research shows that tobacco treatment interventions by health care providers can increase the number of patients who successfully quit. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research developed recommendations and guidelines to assist health care providers to integrate a tobacco treatment intervention into an office setting. It is recommended that every physician 1) ask patients about their tobacco use; 2) advise them to stop using tobacco; 3) assist patients interested in cessation efforts; and 4) arrange appropriate follow-up.

Soft drink logos on baby bottles: do they influence what is fed to children?

Baby bottle with popular soda pop and soft drink logos are on marked shelves. A descriptive study was conducted to determine their prevalence among families and to determine whether the logos could be influencing what families put in baby bottles. A convenience sample of 314 mothers (and grandmothers if they were primary caregivers) with children using baby bottles was interviewed in three California counties. The results were analyzed for significance, using the chi-square test for independence. The ethnicities and educational levels of the sample population matched the distribution of the State. Overall, 31 percent of the children drank either soda pop or Kool-Aid from baby bottles. Forty-six percent of the respondents owned a baby bottle with a soda pop logo and 17 percent owned a bottle with a Kool-Aid logo. Families who owned bottles with popular beverage logos were four times more likely to give children the respective beverage in bottles than families with "logo bottles." Populations most likely to drink these beverages were those in the black and Hispanic ethnic groups, in the youngest age-group (15-20 years of age), and those without a high school diploma. Health professionals are concerned that the logos could cause an increase in children's consumption of sweetened beverages in baby bottles and consequently an increase in Baby Bottle Tooth Decay and nutritional problems.