Effect of a short tobacco cessation intervention among pregnant women: pilot results of the TOB-G project

Introduction: Despite the magnitude of the risks associated with tobacco use during pregnancy, an estimated 6-19% of woman in Europe will continue to smoke during pregnancy and a large portion of woman who quit will return to smoking following pregnancy. The purpose of the pilot study was toexamine the effectiveness of the Tobacco Cessation Guidelines for High-risk Groups (TOB-G) for Pregnant and Post-Partum women on aiding cessation during pregnancy Methods: The intervention was based on the TOB-G project guidelines d in a sample of 67 pregnant women recruited from obstetrics outpatient visitsand was delivered based on an adaptation of the 5As models for smoking cessation. A research assistant contacted participants by phone at 1 and 6-months to document smoking status. Participants received three behavioural counselling sessions through a combination of face-to-face and telephone consultation. Results: A significant increase in self-reported smoking abstinence was documented following the intervention with 43.9% and 45.6% of participants abstinent at the 1 and 6-month follow-up respectively. In a conservative analysis if we assume missing data for participants we were unable to reach for follow-up as active smokers the quit rates are 26.9% and 38.8% at the 1 and 6-month follow-up respectively. Conclusion: The counselling intervention based on the TOB-G guidelines was associated with significant increase in smoking abstinence among pregnant women. Further research with larger sample sizes is needed.