Percentage of pregnant mothers who smoked at time of delivery in the U.K. was 13% in Q2 2011, down from 13.5% year-over-year, survey finds

Michelle Rivera

LONDON , December 15, 2011 (press release) – The key points from the latest release are:

· The breastfeeding initiation rate was 74.1% in 2011/12 Quarter 2, a slight improvement on 2010/11 outturn (73.7% ), 2009/10 outturn (72.7%) and 2008/09 outturn (71.7%).

· The prevalence of breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks in 2011/12 Quarter 2 was 47.1% of all infants due a 6-8 weeks check, slightly higher than the figure of 46.5% recorded in 2010/11 Q2.

· The percentage of mothers smoking at delivery in England was 13.1% in 2011/12 Quarter 2, lower than the 2010/11 outturn (13.5%), 2009/10 outturn (14.1%) and 2008/09 outturn (14.4%).

Smoking individual quarterly statistical releases

Smoking

Since 2003/04, each primary care trust has been required to submit quarterly data on women's smoking status at the time of delivery. These data are also submitted through the NHS Information Centre's Omnibus web-based data collection system.

Between 2005/06 and the second quarter of 2010/11, each Primary Care Trust was required to submit quarterly data on GP-recorded smoking status. These data are no longer collated centrally, but the historical information can be accessed through this link. This decision was taken because:

* Similar information on GP-recorded smoking prevalence is available annually through the Quality and Outcomes Framework
* Local estimates of smoking prevalence are now available quarterly from the Office for National Statistics' Integrated Household Survey
* The fact that smoking status is not recorded for a significant minority of patients means that prevalence estimates derived from these data are biased.
* The burden on the NHS of collecting the data is disproportionate to the value that the data

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