Author Description

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with poorer birth outcomes. This report is one of a series of initiatives commissioned by the National Advisory Group on Smoking and Pregnancy as part of an overall strategy to reduce smoking in pregnancy in Australia. It presents data on pregnancy and births according to the mother's smoking status during pregnancy for the period 2001 to 2003, using the National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC). Data from the NPDC were available for this report from five states and territories: New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, representing 53.5% of women who gave birth in Australia in 2003. Tasmania and Queensland began collecting smoking data in 2005, so data from these jurisdictions will be available for reporting in the future.