• Employment
• Miscarriage
• Pre-eclampsia
• Premature Birth
• Stillbirth
• Toxoplasmosis

Lifestyle Statistics

Caffeine intake

The ingestion of caffeine may increase the risk of an early spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) among non-smoking women carrying fetuses with normal karyotypes.

[New England Journal of Medicine 2000; 343 (25): 1839-1845.]

Caffeine intakes above 300 mg/day may be associated with low birthweight and, in some cases, miscarriage. 300 mg of caffeine is roughly equivalent to 4 average cups or 3 average mugs of instant coffee, 6 average cups of tea, 8 cans of regular cola drinks, 4 cans of "energy" drinks, 8 standard bars of normal chocolate.

[Food standards agency press release 10th October 2001]

Teenage mothers

The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, with figures for England and Wales in 1998 showing 101,500 conceptions and 62,900 live births.

Death rate for babies and very young children of teenage mothers is 60% higher than that for children of older women.

[British Medical Journal 2001; 322: 386 [Irish parliamentary committee on teenage parenting issues]

Pregnant women less than 18 years old are more likely to delivery preterm than older women.

[Obstetrics & Gynecology 2000; 96 (6): 962-966.]

Young single mothers are three times more likely than older women to experience postnatal depression.

[British Medical Journal 2001; 322: 386.]

Second births among women aged between 15 and 19 years were associated with an almost three-fold risk of extremely premature birth and stillbirth when compared with women aged between 20 and 29 years.

[British Medical Journal 2001; 323: 1-5.]

Smoking in pregnancy

1 in 5 women smoke through pregnancy. (Tommy's National Pregnancy Week survey 2004)

24% of women continue to smoking during pregnancy and only one-third give up before giving birth.

[MIDIRS Midwifery Digest March 2001 Vol 11 No 1.]

The number of women smoking during pregnancy has fallen from 23% to 18% in the last 5 years.

[Department of Health Infant Feeding Survey 2000, released 31 August 2001.]

Pregnant women who want to stop smoking are more likely to succeed with intensive support, which is sensitive to their particular needs. Self-help approach to smoking cessation in pregnancy was acceptable but ineffective when implemented during routine antenatal care. More intensive and complex interventions, appropriately targeted and tailored, need to be developed and evaluated.

[Moore et al., British Medical Journal 2002; 325: 1383.]

Smoking in pregnancy causes adverse outcomes, notably an increased risk of miscarriage, reduced birth weight and perinatal death. If parents continue to smoke after pregnancy, there is an increased rate of sudden infant death syndrome.

[Department of Health Statistical Bulletin. Statistics on Smoking: England 1976 to 1996. Bulletin 1998/25. Published July 1998.]

The adverse effects of smoking in pregnancy are due mainly to smoking in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Therefore if a woman stops smoking within the first three months of pregnancy, her risk of having a low-birthweight baby will be similar to that of a non-smoker.

[US Department of health and human services 1990. The health benefits of giving up smoking.]

[Royal College of Physicians Nicotine Addiction in Britain. London: Royal College of Physicians, 2000.]

Women who smoke are less likely to carry their babies to full term. There is a 26% greater risk that they will miscarry or experience a stillbirth.

[Effects of smoking on the fetus, neonate and child. Poswillo D, Alberman E. OUP, 1992.]

Smoking in pregnancy leads to an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, haemorrhaging during pregnancy, premature birth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death).

Women who continue to smoke are more likely to experience vomiting, urinary infections and thrush.

With each cigarette a pregnant woman smokes, the blood flow through the placenta is reduced for about 15 minutes, causing the baby's heart rate to increase.

The carbon monoxide contained in inhaled cigarette smoke reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of a foetus by about 40%. This affects the growth rate of the baby - babies of smoking mothers are an average of 200g (6 oz) lighter at birth, and are therefore more likely to require life support.

Stillbirths or the death of an infant within the first week of life is increased by about one third in babies of smokers.

Infants of parents who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from serious respiratory infection than the children of non-smokers.

Smoking during pregnancy puts your child at a greater risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

On average, smokers have more complications in pregnancy and labour, which can include bleeding, premature detachment of the placenta and premature rupture of the membranes.

Babies will cry more after birth if the mother has smoked during pregnancy - the baby will suffer withdrawal symptoms.

Children whose parents smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves.

[from NHS Pregnancy smoking helpline website]

Drinking in pregnancy

Tommy's National Pregnancy Week survey 2004

2 out of 5 women drink alcohol during pregnancy

1 in 4 women (28%) drink between 2 and 5 units of alcohol a week, double the recommended weekly limit - even though these activities can cause mental retardation and birth defects in babies