Almost one in four mothers living in the Western NSW Primary Health Network (PHN) smoke while they are pregnant, giving the area the highest rate of women smoking while they are pregnant, around the country.
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A government report showed 22.9 per cent of women smoked during pregnancy in the Western NSW PHN, which includes Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Broken Hill and surrounding areas.
The figure was included in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s My Healthy Communities report on Child and Maternal Health in 2013 to 2015 which was released on Thursday.
The percentage has dropped slightly since the 2012 to 2014 report, when it was shown 23.7 per cent of women smoked during pregnancy.
Looking at individual towns in the Western NSW PHN, Broken Hill and Far West were the worst with 34.1 percent of mothers smoking during pregnancy, while the Orange local area was the best with only 17.1 per cent recorded.
The Dubbo local area had 23.3 percent, Lithgow and Mudgee had 21.8 per cent and Bathurst had 19.8 per cent.
The latest report looked at four key areas measuring the health of babies and their mothers including infant and young child deaths, the rate of newborns who are low birth weight, mothers who smoke during pregnancy and mothers attending antenatal care services during the first trimester of their pregnancy.
A key statistic showed 53.8 per cent of those woman who smoked in the Western NSW PHN also identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, slightly down on the 54.5 per cent shown in the 2012 – 2014 report.
“While about 1 in 10 Australian mothers smoked during pregnancy overall, the rate was much higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers, of whom almost half (46.5 per cent nationally) smoked at some point during their pregnancy,’ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare spokesperson Anna O’Mahony said.
The percentage of mothers who smoked during pregnancy was based on the number of mothers who self-reported having smoked tobacco at any time.
Smoking during pregnancy can lead to pregnancy complications and poorer outcomes for babies, including low birthweight, pre-term birth. in most tragic cases, these babies die during or shortly after birth.
The Western NSW PHN fared better in other areas of the report, with 66.3 per cent of women attending an antenatal visit in the first trimester. Only 5.5 per cent of babies were born with a low birth weight, and the infant and young child mortality rate per 1,000 was 5.4 for the area.