The Association Between Tobacco Exposure During Pregnancy and Newborns’ Birth Weight in DKI Jakarta Community Members

Low birth weight (LBW), a major determinant of neonate morbidity and mortality, remains a global public health concern. Intrauterine exposure to tobacco has been discerned as an important risk factor for LBW. This study aims to investigate the association between parental smoking during pregnancy and LBW. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2019 - July 2020 on a random sample of parents with child aged 0-5 years old from 5 health centers in DKI Jakarta, Indonesia. A total of 145 subjects met the criteria and were analysed. Data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics software. In the study, 11% of infants were born with LBW. The prevalence of smoking in fathers and mothers were 55.2% and 3.4%, respectively. Paternal smoking status was significantly associated with LBW (p < 0.05). Although not statistically significant, there was a dose-response relationship between paternal number of cigarettes/day and duration of smoking with LBW. Maternal smoking status (p = 0.448) was not closely associated with LBW, which might be due limited number of actively smoking mothers. From multivariate logistic regression, paternal smoking status, premature delivery, birth order and inadequate food intake during pregnancy were significant predictors of LBW (p < 0.05).