Mums-to-be in e-cigarette study

A UK study which included pregnant smokers from Forth Valley who were trying to quit, has concluded that e-cigarettes are“as safe as nicotine patches”.

Four weeks into their attempt to stop, 15.4 per cent of those given e-cigarettes selfreported that they were not smoking, compared with 8.6 per cent who were asked to use nicotine patches.

The study involved 1,140 women from 23 hospital sites in England and from NHS Forth Valley (which was only site in Scotland) with a median age of 27 years.

On average they were 15.7 weeks pregnant and smoked 10 cigarettes a day. Of these 569 were assigned to use e-cigarettes and 571 to use nicotine patches. Results were obtained through saliva samples, a carbon monoxide sample and self-reporting.

Only 40 per cent of those given e-cigarettes and 23 per cent of those given patches used their allocated product for at least four weeks.

However, both uptake and duration of use during the study was higher among those given e-cigarettes.

NHS Forth Valley lead for the study, consultant obstetrician, Dr Shahzya Huda, said:“smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birthweight, placental abruption, preterm birth, miscarriage and neonatal or sudden infant death.

“However, we know that stubbing out the habit can be a real struggle.”

Gillian Bruce, former NHS Forth Valley Stop Smoking Co-ordinator, said:“we would only recommend the use of nicotine products to smokers wanting to quit their regular cigarettes.

“However, using an e-cigarette poses no greater risk to the mother or baby than nicotine patches, which are both better options than continuing to smoke throughout pregnancy.”