The prevalence of alcohol, substance and cigarettes exposure among pregnant women within a general hospital and the compliance to brief intervention for exposure reduction

Background: Compliance and impact of a time-limited brief intervention (BI) for reducing exposure to alcohol, psychoactive substances and nicotine among women admitted to the hospital during pregnancy were assessed. Methods: Pregnant women (gestational week ≤30) from a medical center pre-delivery, emergency and high-risk units were interviewed about alcohol (AUDIT and TWEAK questionnaires), smoking (modified Fagerström) and psychoactive substance (modified ASI). All exposed women were invited to participate in a BI and underwent follow-up. Characteristics and rate of exposure were compared to a “standard-group” of non-selected women who arrived to the hospital directly solely to give birth. Results: Forty-six of the 108 study participants (42.6%) were exposed to smoking (85%), alcohol (41%), or drugs (39%), and 41 underwent the BI. Self-report of exposure was reduced significantly following BI but re-elevated post-delivery. Women belonging to the “standardgroup” were better educated, had lower lifetime rates of exposure, and gave birth to newborns with higher birth weights (3254.7±506.9 g vs. 2650.8±785.6 g for the study group). Conclusion: Compliance of the exposed women to BI was high and contributed to exposure reduction during pregnancy but relapsed following delivery.