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SMFM: Nicotine Patch Safe, Effective for Pregnant Women who Smoke By Cameron Johnston Special to DG News NEW ORLEANS, LA -- January 18, 2002 -- Long-term nicotine patch therapy is a safe and effective smoking cessation aid during pregnancy and should be offered to pregnant women who cannot otherwise stop smoking, according to research reported here. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy dramatically increases the risk for complications, including pre-term delivery and perinatal mortality, according to researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, who presented their findings on the use of intensive nicotine patch therapy in pregnancy yesterday during the 22nd annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM). Dr. Paul Ogburn, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive medicine at Stony Brook, and colleagues enrolled 21 pregnant women who despite their doctor’s advice continued to smoke heavily (>15 cigarettes/day) into their third trimester of pregnancy. The women received a nicotine patch on the first day (24 mg/hour) of a four-day hospital stay and continued to use it for a total of eight weeks. Participants underwent weekly examinations until delivery. Exhaled CO2 was used to determine whether, in fact, they still continued to smoke, and foetal growth and well-being were assessed by ultrasound. Results indicate that all of the babies were of more or less normal birth weight (2,400-4,400 grams; none less than the 10th percentile), but all were born at least a few weeks premature (range 36.1-41 weeks). The study, however, did not assess foetal complications due to smoking during the early stages of the pregnancy. Dr. Ogburn commented that although nicotine patches have been proven effective in non-pregnant patients, this study showed their safety in pregnant women. Eight of the 21 women (38 percent) were smoke-free at the time of delivery, which the investigators noted was superior to the success rate seen in previous studies (4.9 to 31.9 percent). Ten percent of the women remained smoke-free at the end of a year -- the same percentage as in the general population of people who stop smoking after using the nicotine patch, Dr. Ogburn said in an interview. This study extends the potential benefits of intensive nicotine patch therapy to pregnant women, the researcher concluded. The patch is a safe and acceptable smoking cessation tool in women who continue to smoke heavily during the third-trimester of pregnancy. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version