Association Between Second Hand Smoke (SHS) Exposure In Pregnant Women And Their Socioeconomic Status (SES) And Its Interaction With Age: A Cross-Sectional Study In Urban Areas

Abstract Background: The high rate of second hand smoke (SHS) exposure puts pregnant women at risk of various harms and identify relevant influence factors are vital for primary prevention. The study aimed to explore the effect of individual socioeconomic status (SES) on exposure to SHS exposure among pregnant women.Methods: A total of 678 non-smoker pregnant women from 14 communities of Hengyang city, Hunan province of China were recruited in this survey. A self-designed structural questionnaire was used to collect variables. Exposure to SHS was defined as self-reported smoking habit of spouse/partner. The individual SES consisted of martial status, educational attainment, employment and per-capita monthly income.Results: There were 238 (35.1%) participants suffered from SHS exposure during pregnancy. After adjusted for confounding variables, compared to the pregnant women who were employed, others were unemployed were more likely to suffer from SHS exposure (OR= 1.697; 95%CI: 1.102-2.614). Similarly, those women who had high school or technical secondary school education level were associated with SHS exposure compared with college or above education attachment (OR: 1.577, 95%CI: 1.020-2.437). The interaction effects between age and junior middle school or below educational attainment (OR: 1.131, 95%CI: 1.015-1.261), unstable marriage (OR: 1.380, 95%CI: 1.075-1.772) on SHS exposure was detected.Conclusion: Exposure to SHS was very common among pregnant women. Those pregnant women of low level of SES should considered as key population to implement public health intervention. Pregnant women of unstable martial status with older age were more likely to SHS exposure.