More pregnant women in northern England smoke

From the BBC news website today comes a story that in a survey of 167,300 pregnant women 20% of the mothers in North East England were smokers when they gave birth, compared to 6% in London. NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: "Smoking can cause a range of serious health problems, including lower birthweight, pre-term birth, placental complications and perinatal mortality. East London has a dedicated smoking cessation service for pregnant women; contact Farah Desai on 020 7247 8251 x 3048.