TY - JOUR T1 - Reliance on self-reporting underestimates pregnancy smoking rates in Scotland, with more than 2400 pregnant smokers estimated to be missed each year JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 94 LP - 95 DO - 10.1136/ebm1053 VL - 15 IS - 3 AU - Van T Tong AU - Patricia M Dietz AU - Lucinda J England Y1 - 2010/06/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/15/3/94.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Shipton D, Tappin DM, Vadiveloo T, et al. Reliability of self reported smoking status by pregnant women for estimating smoking prevalence: a retrospective, cross sectional study. BMJ 2009;339:b4347.OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text Smoking during pregnancy is a preventable cause of infant morbidity and mortality, yet prenatal smoking is a persistent problem, with an estimated 6–22% of women in high-income countries reporting smoking cigarettes during pregnancy.1 Clinic-based interventions are effective in increasing cessation and improving pregnancy outcomes2; however, delivery of these interventions depends on the ability of providers to assess a woman's smoking status and readiness to quit accurately.Shipton and colleagues sought to estimate the biochemically validated prevalence of women in need of smoking cessation services. Using a random sample of all 2004 births from the West of Scotland, they compared routinely collected self-reported smoking status of pregnant women at maternity booking (8–12 weeks of gestation) and serum cotinine levels from prenatal screening (15–16 weeks of gestation). They found that maternal self-reported smoking status underestimated smoking prevalence by 25%. The authors' findings are consistent with previously published clinical and observational studies in which maternal … ER -