Smoke-Free Legislation and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in England

Background: There is a wide array of evidence on the morbidity and mortality associated with smoking and second-hand-smoke on both adults and children. In response to these findings and following the Health Act, 2006, England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smoke free on July 1, 2007. Aim: To investigate the effect of smoking-free legislation on adverse pregnancy outcomes in England. Methods: A retrospective observational study design is used to analyse routinely collected national Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) maternity data covering the whole of England. All mothers who delivered singleton live-births between 24 to 44 weeks of gestation between January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009 are included in the analyses (N=1,819,633). Regression discontinuity (RD) model, which is a quasi-experimental model, was employed to analyse the effects of the 2007 UK smoke-free legislation on pregnancy outcomes on birth weight, preterm and small for gestational age. Resul...