Investigating the link between smoke-free legislation and stillbirths

ABSTRACT

Despite considerable recent progress in tobacco control, smoking and second-hand smoke exposure continue to pose a major health threat to adults, children, and (unborn) babies. There is increasing evidence that implementation of smoke-free legislation, through reducing smoking and smoke exposure, has the potential to improve population health. In this editorial we focus on the research on smoke-free legislation in relation to stillbirths, summarizing the findings to-date, reflecting on methodological issues that need to be considered when interpreting this evidence base, and highlighting some key next steps to further strengthen the evidence in order to inform evidence-based policy making.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoking
• tobacco
• pregnancy
• second-hand smoke
• policy
• prevention
• fetus
• quasi-experiment
• perinatal mortality
• methodology

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Jasper Been is supported by an Erasmus University Medical Centre Fellowship and a Netherlands Lung Foundation Junior Investigator Grant. Aziz Sheikh is supported by the Farr Institute and the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.