Concerns as more than 260 women in Portsmouth are still smoking while pregnant

Analysis of Public Health England data by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) showed that in 2019, 263 women in the city were smoking at the time of delivery of their babies and 12,227 children lived in homes with parents who smoked.

In the Hampshire County Council area, 969 pregnant mothers smoked and 47,844 children lived in smoking households.

Their research also found that children in a homes with a parent who smokes are four times more likely to become smokers themselves.

Helen Atkinson, Portsmouth’s director of public health, said smoking is ‘still the leading cause of health inequalities, ill-health and early death in the UK.’

‘We are concerned about the number of children living in smoking households in Portsmouth and we continue to work hard to reduce the number of smokers in the city,’ she said.

‘Smoking in pregnancy is the single most important risk factor for miscarriage, still birth, premature births and birth defects, and women in the most deprived group are five times more likely to smoke in pregnancy than those in the least deprived.

‘We continue to work in partnership with local maternity services to provide support to all mums to be identified as smokers during their pregnancy. This could be by offering nicotine dependency therapy products to mums as well as face-to-face or virtual support. This support is also offered to family members within a household to reduce the risk from second hand smoke to children in the home.’

The analysis from Ash also revealed around 264 people in Portsmouth and 1,425 in Hampshire die as a result of smoking each year.

However, as previously reported, figures from Public Health England showed 14.3 per cent of over 18s in Portsmouth smoked in 2020, down from 16.4 per cent in 2019.

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Healthwatch Portsmouth chairman, Roger Batterbury, recommended residents contact the city’s wellbeing service for support quitting.

He said: ‘Advice from health and care providers in the city is that people should cut down on their nicotine intake or switch to vaping. The Wellbeing Service offered by Portsmouth City Council is free to residents and offers help to people to quit smoking, drink less alcohol and achieve a healthy weight.

‘Healthwatch Portsmouth is concerned that there are about 12,000 children in the city whose health will be affected by adults who smoke in their household and that it is likely that these children will become smokers themselves and experience poor health as a result.

‘The still relatively high number of women in the city continuing to smoke while pregnant and to smoke at the time of giving birth, risking the future health of their child, indicates the need for more health education to be aimed at children to explain the bad effects of smoking in order to reduce the number of young people who might then take up smoking, joining in with the other members of their household who already smoke.’

To find out more information and for support to quit smoking visit wellbeingportsmouth.co.uk or call 023 9229 4001.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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