Smoking Ban Reduce Premature Birth: Study

A study that evaluated the results of ban on public smoking has found it to be benefiting  pregnant women.

The study conducted by the Hasselt University in Belgium, states that banning smoking in public places has drastically dropped the frequency of premature birth.

The country had implemented a three stage smoking ban:  It 'Banned smoking in public places-2006'; 'Banned smoking in restaurants-2007'; 'Banned smoking in bars that served food-2010'.

They evaluated over 600,000 births over the last decade after each phase and noticed a sharp decline in babies born before 37 weeks. The most notable decline was noticed after the implementation of the second and third phase of ban. With the implementation of these two phases, the premature birth rate fell by about 3 percent each time.

In 2012, a Scottish study was conducted that noticed a similar pattern. This study also highlighted the association between public smoking ban and a drop in premature birth.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 6 million people are killed worldwide every year because of tobacco, in which more than 600,000 non-smokers die as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke. If this trend continues, by 2030, tobacco could kill 8 million people a year.

"Our study shows a consistent pattern of reduction in the risk of preterm delivery with successive population interventions to restrict smoking. It supports the notion that smoking bans have public health benefits even from early life. More and more countries in Europe are adopting stricter legislation on smoking in public places. These results underscore the public health benefit of smoking ban policies," authors were quoted in Medical News Today.

The study found no link between birth weight and public smoking ban.

The details of the study were published in the journal British Medical Journal.