Observational studyEpidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)2016
Protective Effects of Smoke-free Legislation on Birth Outcomes in England: A Regression Discontinuity Design.
Observational study in Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between prenatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and preterm birth: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluation of Population-Level Tobacco Control Interventions and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2023Pooled it
- Taxing for healthier beginnings: The impact of a major tobacco tax hike on birth weight in Mexico.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Effects of a federal smoke-free housing policy on adverse birth outcomes among NYC public-housing residents.Tobacco control · 2025Article
- Article
- Changes in the identification and management of mental health and domestic abuse among pregnant women during the COVID-19 lockdown: regression discontinuity study.BJPsych open · 2022Article
- Regression discontinuity analysis for pharmacovigilance: statin example reflected trial findings showing little evidence of harm.Journal of clinical epidemiology · 2022Article
- Article
- Article
- Small-area methods for investigation of environment and health.International journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Preterm birth and secondhand smoking during pregnancy: A case-control study from Vietnam.PloS one · 2020Article
- Impact of India's National Tobacco Control Programme on bidi and cigarette consumption: a difference-in-differences analysis.Tobacco control · 2020Article
- The impact of anti-tobacco legislation on birth weight in Peru.Global health research and policy · 2020Article
- Effect of tobacco control policies on perinatal and child health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEnvironmental tobacco smoke has an adverse association with preterm birth and birth weight. England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smoke free on July 1, 2007. We investigated the effect of smoke-free legislation on birth outcomes in England using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) maternity data.
methodsWe used regression discontinuity, a quasi-experimental study design, which can facilitate valid causal inference, to analyze short-term effects of smoke-free legislation on birth weight, low birth weight, gestational age, preterm birth, and small for gestational age.
resultsWe analyzed 1,800,906 pregnancies resulting in singleton live-births in England between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2009. In the 1 to 5 months following the introduction of the smoke-free legislation, for those entering their third trimester, the risk of low birth weight decreased by between 8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4%, 12%) and 14% (95% CI: 5%, 23%), very low birth weight between 28% (95% CI: 19%, 36%) and 32% (95% CI: 21%, 41%), preterm birth between 4% (95% CI: 1%, 8%) and 9% (95% CI: 2%, 16%), and small for gestational age between 5% (95% CI: 2%, 8%) and 9% (95% CI: 2%, 15%). The estimated impact of the smoke-free legislation varied by maternal age, deprivation, ethnicity, and region.
conclusionsThe introduction of smoke-free legislation in England had an immediate estimated beneficial impact on birth outcomes overall, although we did not observe improvements across all age, ethnic, or deprivation groups.See video abstract at http://links.lww.com/EDE/B85.
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