A trial looking at the effects of smoking when pregnant on infant developmental outcomes found the children of women who used nicotine patches during pregnancy were less likely to have behaviour and development problems by age two.
In 2012 over 1,000 smoking women who smoked five or more cigarettes per day and who smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day before pregnancy were recruited to establish the effect of using nicotine patches during pregnancy. They were randomly assigned to receive nicotine replacement patches or placebo patches, which looked the same, however had no active content. The study found using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) made no significant difference to women’s chances of giving up smoking during pregnancy.
Now two years after delivery researchers have reported infants born to participants in the NRT group were more likely to have survived without any impairment – defined as no disability or problems with behaviour and development having been detected, using standard parental or health professional questionnaires.
The study, published in the Lancet, reported 72.6% of the NRT group infants survived with ‘no impairment’ compared with 65.5% born to participants in the placebo group.
There were however no significant differences in infants’ respiratory problems.
BRC-supported Professor Neil Marlow, one of the authors, said it would need to be investigated whether or not apparent differences in infants’ outcomes persist into childhood: “This robust but surprising finding has a range of important implications, but we do need to confirm the effect at a later age first. Meanwhile we need to be cautious about using therapeutic cessation aids in pregnancy”
At 6, 12 and 24 months after childbirth questionnaires were sent to women that asked about maternal smoking behaviour and infants’ respiratory problems. Included in the 24 month questionnaire was an ‘age and stages’ domain aimed to measure children’s communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social development skills.
If responses were not received at 24 months, follow-up questionnaires enquiring about infants’ health was sent to participants’ GPs.
To read Effect of nicotine patches in pregnancy on infant and maternal outcomes at 2 years: follow-up from the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled SNAP trial in full click here.
