Smoking prevalence of pregnant women compared to women in the general population of Washington State.

We used two readily available sources of information to identify subgroups of pregnant Washington State women with high smoking rates. We compared smoking rates in pregnant women and women in general using information from the Washington State birth certificate collection system and the Washington State Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Smoking rates are substantially higher in young mothers 18-24 years of age than in comparable age cohorts in the general population of women in the state. In contrast, mothers 25 years of age and older smoke at lower rates than their age cohort in the general population. For multiparous women of all ages, smoking prevalence is related to age at first birth. Married women, whether pregnant or not, smoked less than unmarried women.