Almost a quarter of Courier Country mothers are smokers when starting their pregnancies.
New figures from ISD Scotland show that 22.3% of Tayside mothers and 23.4% of those in Fife are current smokers when beginning antenatal classes.
Both regions saw a drop in the number of pregnant women presenting as smokers, however, down 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively.
A statement in the report read: ”There is considerable pressure on women not to smoke during pregnancy, and there is evidence of under-reporting by women of their smoking behaviour at the booking clinic.
”It is widely accepted that smoking during pregnancy is harmful to both mother and baby and maternal smoking is associated with pre-term and/or low birthweight babies.
”Smoking in pregnancy is also associated with increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and sudden unexpected death in infancy.”
There has been a 6% decrease in maternal smoking in both Tayside and Fife since 2001, while the total for Scottish women has gone down from 29% in 1995 to 19.3% last year.
Smoking behaviour in pregnancy is collected at a woman’s first antenatal booking appointment, which usually takes place within the first three months of pregnancy. The appointments take place either at hospital or in the community and are recorded on the Scottish Woman Held Maternity Record.
Other key findings from the report included a decrease in births from 58,275 to 58,095 and a hike in the caesarean section rate to 26.5%. It was also found that mothers are getting older, with a steady increase in births to mothers aged 30-34, from 13.5% in 1976 to 28.2% in 2011.
The most common age for starting a family in the area of lowest deprivation was 30, which is 10 years later than the most common age in the area of highest deprivation.
There is a general downward trend in the number of recorded miscarriages, falling from 7,546 in 1998 to 5,634 in 2011.
Smoking is responsible for about 13,000 deaths and 56,000 hospital admissions in Scotland every year.
A recent report from the Scottish Public Health observatory estimates that smoking costs the NHS £323 million per year, 3.5% of NHS Scotland operating costs.
A 1% reduction in smoking prevalence would reduce expenditure by an estimated £13.4 million.