The effect of smoking and cigarette smoke exposure during pregnancy on newborn anthropometric measurements and apgar score.

Smoking or exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy threatens the health of mother and fetus. This research was conducted as a descriptive and correlational researching to investigate the effect of smoking and exposure to smoke during pregnancy on newborn birth weight, height, head circumference and Apgar score. A total of 331 pregnant women who gave birth normally between February 2024 and December 2024 at Zeynep Kamil Women's and Children's Education and Research Hospital were included in the research. Pregnant women were evaluated into groups according to smoking and exposure to smoke during pregnancy, Group 1 " Both smoking and exposure during pregnancy (n=91)", Group 2 was evaluated as "Non-smoker and non-exposure during pregnancy (n=120)" and Group 3 as "Non-smoker but exposure during pregnancy (n=120)". It has been determined that 36.9% of the pregnant women were between 25-29 years of age, the average age was 26.64±4.58 years old and the average age of the spouses was 30.62±5.21 years old, the pregnant women and their spouses were mostly high school graduates (53.5% and 46.5%), 84.9% were housewives and 89.4% lived in nuclear families. It was determined that 53.5% of the pregnant women were primiparous, 46.5% were multiparous, and 79.2% went to antenatal check-ups once a month. It was found that 61.6% of the pregnant women were exposed to smoke during pregnancy and 92.7% were exposed to smoke at home. There was a significant correlation between the average age of the pregnant woman and her husband, the educational level of the husband, the number of parities and smoking and exposure to smoke during pregnancy. In the 1st and 3rd groups, the average age of the pregnant women and their spouses and the average educational level of the spouses were significantly lower (p<0.05, 1<2, 3<2) and there were more primiparous pregnant women in the same groups (p<0.001). Pregnant women in group 1 (37.21±1.91) and group 3 (37.48±2.05) had a significantly is lower than average gestational week compared to group 2 (37.94±1.57) (p<0.05; 1<2). The average birth weight, length and head circumference of the newborn were lower in group 1 and group 3 compared to group 2 and the relationship between them was found to be significant (p<0.05; 2>1.3). In conclusion, It was determined that the average gestational week, newborn birth weight, length and head circumference were significantly lower in pregnant women who smoked and were exposed to smoke compared to the nonsmoking group, and there was no significant relationship between the average Apgar scores. Keywords: Pregnancy, Smoking, Exposure to smoke, Newborn anthropometric measurements, Apgar score