Smoking cessation interventions for pregnant women: Review and future directions

A substantial proportion of disease and death in the US could be prevented if tobacco use was curtailed or eliminated. Low birth weight, pregnancy complications, and infant morbidity are but a few of the adverse outcomes experienced by pregnant and postpartum women and infants that result from cigarette smoking. Pregnancy may be an ideal time to intervene with smoking women. On learning of their pregnancy, many women reduce or quit smoking on their own. For those who do not quit, interventions during the childbearing year could provide additional incentive and support for complete cessation. Successful clinic-based interventions share similar characteristics and tailoring cessation messages to client populations may enhance the effectiveness of interventions. Assessing a smoker's degree of addiction and tailoring counseling for cessation according to the patient's readiness might enhance current clinical practices. Even with the most effective individual counseling, it is increasingly evident that additional strategies are needed to achieve population-wide reductions in smoking and its related health conditions. Examples of these efforts are increased taxation on cigarettes, community-based anti-tobacco programs, and increasing the number of smoke-free environments. Thus, in addition to clinic-based efforts, health professionals might take an active role in supporting the broad range of programmatic, legislative, and advocacy efforts.