Yes / Introduction
Despite the well-known link between stress and smoking, evidence for associations between economic recession, financial stress and smoking is contradictory. In this study we assess whether women were more likely to continue smoking during pregnancy if they were exposed to the UK 2008-2010 economic recession during pregnancy than those who were unexposed, and whether this relationship is mediated by financial stress.
Methods
We used cross-sectional data on 2775 pregnant women who were regular smokers before pregnancy and who were enrolled in the UK Born in Bradford cohort study between March 2007 and December 2010. The cut-off date for exposure to recession was set at August 1, 2008, based on local and national economic data. Multivariable logistic regression analysis included potential confounders: maternal age, parity, cohabitation, ethnicity and maternal age. The mediating role of financial stress was analysed using ‘worse off financially’ and a ‘difficult financial situation’ as indicators of financial stress in Sobel-Goodman mediation tests with bootstrap resampling.
Results
After taking into account potential confounders, exposure to recession was associated with continued smoking during pregnancy (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01; 1.41, p=0.03). A worse financial situation and difficult financial situation were identified as mediators, explaining 8.4% and 17.6%, respectively, of the relationship between exposure to recession and smoking during pregnancy.
Conclusions
Smoking during pregnancy is associated with exposure to the UK 2008-2010 economic recession during pregnancy, and this relationship is partly mediated by financial stress. / supported by the Born in Bradford study funding. The BiB study presents independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) and the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research funding scheme [grant number RP-PG-0407-10044]. Core support for BiB is also provided by the Wellcome Trust [grant number WT101597MA]. All authors receive funding from the Big Lottery Fund as part of the “A Better Start” programme.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/16240 |
| Date | 07 May 2018 |
| Creators | Uphoff, E.P., Small, Neil A., Pickett, K.E. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted manuscript |
| Rights | © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. |
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