UW-Milwaukee: Maternal smoking still high in Wisconsin, but First Breath program can help moms quit

CONTACT: Karen Palmersheim, (608) 516-6063, palmersh@uwm.edu;
Kristine Alaniz, 414-902-3192, kalaniz@wwhf.org

Milwaukee _ A new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study finds that pregnant women in Wisconsin continue to smoke at a rate of 14 percent, higher than the national average of 9 percent, and that some pregnant women are more likely to smoke than others. “We monitored the rate of maternal smoking among Wisconsin women over a 24-year period, 1990-2013,” said Karen Palmersheim, PhD, the study’s author and an epidemiologist at UWM’s Center for Urban Initiatives and Research. “Although we saw large decreases in the first 14 years, rates have remained flat at 13 to 14 percent over the past decade.”

Palmersheim noted another finding: the more formal education a pregnant woman has completed, the less likely she is to smoke. Compared to women who completed a college degree, women with only a partial college education are eight times more likely to smoke during pregnancy, while pregnant women with only a high school education or less are 14 times more likely to smoke.

“It’s so important to get these numbers moving down again, especially since infants born to women who smoke are twice as likely to have a low birth weight,” Palmersheim said. “Low birth weight is associated with decreased lung function and less brain development at birth. And the mortality rate for these infants is also about twice that of babies born to mothers who do not smoke.”

The First Breath program, run by the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation (WWHF) and funded by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, aims to put a dent in the state’s maternal smoking rate. First Breath partners with more than 150 agencies to serve some 1,500 women annually by providing evidence-based smoking cessation counseling as part of existing prenatal care. In 2015, 35 percent of program participants fully quit and another 48 percent reduced tobacco use during their pregnancies.

Kristine Alaniz, program manager for WWHF, said providing help to expectant moms is crucial for getting them to quit smoking. “Most women want to quit,” Alaniz said, “but wanting to quit and having the tools to overcome an incredibly powerful addiction are two very different things.”

One woman helped by First Breath is Racine native Tinsley Ore, who has been smoke-free for more than a year and a half. “I needed that extra push,” Ore said. “This program gave me the tools, knowledge and support to quit.”

Alaniz said First Breath is working to expand services and forge innovative partnerships to serve more women. Current and future projects include participant focus groups, text message support, and family-centered counseling to reduce tobacco smoke in homes. Meanwhile, Ore hopes her story will inspire others. “Now that I’ve quit, I feel amazing,” Ore said. “That part of my life is gone. I know my daughter won’t have to watch me smoking every day. That’s why I quit.”