Little effect of smoking cessation counseling in pregnant women

January 01, 0001

Little effect of smoking cessation counseling in pregnant women

These Canadian authors conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining counseling in pregnant smokers. They included RCTs conducted in pregnant women in which the effect of counseling could be isolated and those that reported biochemically validated abstinence at 6 or 12 months after the target quit date.

The found: "Our search identified eight RCTs (n = 3290 women), all of which examined abstinence at 6 months. The proportion of women that remained abstinent at the end of follow up was modest, ranging from 4 to 24% among those randomised to counselling and from 2 to 21% among control women. The absolute difference in abstinence reached a maximum of only 4%. Summary estimates are inconclusive because of wide confidence intervals, albeit with little evidence to suggest that counselling is efficacious at promoting abstinence (odds ratio 1.08, 95% confidence interval 0.84-1.40). There was no evidence to suggest that efficacy differed by counselling type."

The authors concluded: "Available data from RCTs examining the isolated effect of smoking cessation counselling in pregnant women are limited but sufficient to rule out large treatment effects. Future RCTs should examine pharmacological therapies in this population."

Counseling alone is not enough to achieve clinically important quit rates among pregnant women who smoke.

For the full abstract, click here.

BJOG 118(12):1422-1428, November 2011 © 2011 to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The effect of smoking cessation counselling in pregnant women: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. KB Filion, HA Abenhaim, S Mottillo, et al. Correspondence to Dr. Mark Eisenberg: mark.eisenberg@mcgill.ca

Category: W. Pregnancy , Family Planning, Z. Social Problems. Keywords: smoking cessation, pregnancy, counseling, meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 11 November 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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