Proposal for an educational booklet for the approach of alcohol and tobacco effects on the female reproductive health

Abstract

The human biological aging can be influenced either by factors independent of the person, such as genetic events, or by the individual's life-style habits. In the process of natural aging, there is loss in women's reproductive capacity mainly due to the progressive decrease in the germ cells with advancing age. This decline in the female fertility can be accelerated by the use of licit drugs during their potentially reproductive lifetime. Moreover, the use of alcohol and tobacco is rather prevalent among women, even during pregnancy and puerperium, predisposing the binomial mother-fetus to risks. Numerous studies in the literature show that alcohol and tobacco cause serious damages to maternal and fetal/neonatal health. Then, the aim of this work is the production, validation and evaluation of an educational booklet about the influences of the use of alcohol and tobacco by women in the pre-conception, pos-conception and breastfeeding periods. The proposals of this work is to make women aware of the possible implications of these factors in the premature aging of the female genital system, female fertility and pregnancy process, aiming at a better planning of pregnancy, besides offering a potential incentive for the cessation of these habits. (AU)