According to new data, the proportion of pregnant moms who smoked cigarettes decreased by 41% between 2016 and 2021, with the highest proportional drops recorded among mothers younger than 20 and Asian mothers.
As per US News, the number of moms who gave birth and smoked during pregnancy declined from 282,712 to 168,086 between 2016 and 2021, according to research published by the National Center for Health Statistics on Tuesday.
The data was derived from birth certificates. The percentage of moms who smoked during pregnancy decreased by 36%, from 7.2% in 2016 to 4.6% in 2021, with an 8% yearly average decline and a 16% decline between 2020 and 2021.
During this six-year period, cigarette smoking among mothers decreased across all age groups, ranging from a 6% dip among mothers aged 40 and older to a 47% decline among moms under the age of 20, with the proportion falling from 8.5% in 2016 to 4.5% in 2021.
All other racial and ethnic groups also had declines, with Asian mothers experiencing the highest proportional drop of 50%, from 0.6% in 2016 to 0.3% in 2021. From 6% to 3.8%, the percentage of Black mothers who smoked during pregnancy declined by 37%. White moms experienced a 36% decline, from 10.5% to 6.7%, while Hispanic mothers experienced a 33% decline, from 1.8% to 1.2%.
American Indian or Alaska Native moms saw a 24% fall in cigarette smoking during pregnancy, from a percentage of 16.7% in 2016 to 12.7% in 2021, while smoking among Native or Other Pacific Islander mothers dropped 36%, from 4.5% to 2.9%.
From 2016 to 2021, the proportion of mothers who smoked during pregnancy decreased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the smallest decrease occurring in Nevada at 18% and the largest declines occurring in Rhode Island at 54%, Hawaii at 53%, and Connecticut and New Jersey at each 51%.
In 2021, the percentage of pregnant moms who smoked in each state ranged from 0.8% in California to 18.2% in West Virginia.
