Ascertain Environmental Exposure During Pregnancy

Details

Capability: Capabilities

Subcapability: Biomonitoring

Project Timeline: 7/1/1999-6/30/2003

This population-based study met two primary aims: describing the level of exposure to active tobacco smoking and environmental tobacco smoke during pregnancy, and comparing the validity of two smoking behavior questions for possible future inclusion on the California birth certificate.

Biological specimens usually collected routinely for non-study purposes were analyzed from pregnant women at three points in pregnancy A one-page questionnaire was administered in the hospital to collect self-reported information on exposure to active and passive tobacco smoke.

Over 200,000 individual samples were collected with over 6,000 submitted for analysis. Data were linked together and multiple analytic techniques were applied to: 1) identify the pattern of tobacco smoke exposure across nine months of pregnancy, 2) determine the characteristics of women who are most exposed to tobacco, and 3) determine which smoking questions women most accurately respond to and recommend for use on future California birth certificates.