Smoking and Pregnancy

Healthcare Cost

Although maternal smoking is a problem worldwide, it is the highest in the United States where approximately 20 percent of women smoke. Smoking among pregnant mothers has dropped from 18.4 percent in 1990 to 11.4 percent in 2002, but is still a significant public health issue and continues to increases healthcare expenses. Public health researchers at Emory University discovered that although it costs an average $748 healthy child to stay in a normal nursery, it costs $2,496 for a child to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The same study found that maternal smoking increased the risk of a newborn being admitted to the NICU by 20 percent and increased their stay in the hospital by 1.1 percent.

It is estimated that healthcare costs associated with tobacco exposure in utero are $738 per maternal smoker. This results in a direct cost of $227 million in 1996 dollars to Medicaid.

Benefits of Cessation

The longer that a woman smokes during her pregnancy, the longer harmful chemicals are exposed to her growing child, which is why it is important that health professionals focus on educating pregnant women about smoking cessation as soon as possible. By 2010, health-care providers have aimed to reduce the amount of women who smoke while pregnant to 30 percent by the first trimester.

Even if only 1 percent of smokers quit smoking before pregnancy, it would reduce healthcare costs by approximately $25 million. One concern for experts, however, is if there is enough money available to implement cessation programs for mothers, and if these programs are effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that even if only one-fourth of pregnant smokers received cessation assistance that had only an 18 percent rate of complete cessation from smoking, this program could save Medicaid $25 million.

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