BMJ  2004;328:965-966 (24 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.965

Editorial

Nicotine replacement therapy in pregnancy

Is probably safer than smoking

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Smoking harms unborn children. It increases the risk of growth restriction, preterm birth, miscarriage, and perinatal death,^{1 2} but despite this over a quarter of pregnant women in the United Kingdom smoke.³ Pregnancy motivates a minority to stop for at least part of the pregnancy, but most start again after giving birth.³ Compared with women who manage to stop, those who continue are younger and less educated; more likely to be single and in manual occupations;⁴ and much less likely to perceive smoking as a risk to their baby.³ Reducing smoking in pregnancy is an obvious health priority, but progress has been slow.³

Non-pregnant smokers are most likely to quit if offered a combination of behavioural support and pharmacotherapy with either nicotine replacement therapy⁵ or bupropion.⁶ The addition of pharmacotherapy increases quit rates obtained with behavioural support by 1.5-fold to 2-fold. Behavioural support is also effective in pregnancy,⁷ but is usually . . . [Full text of this article]

Division of Primary Care, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH (tim.coleman@nottingham.ac.uk)

Division of Respiratory Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB

Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Child Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB

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Fetal nicotine feedings premature

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