Online ads help pregnant smokers quit

A new NIHR-funded study reveals that commercial online advertising about cessation support could engage large numbers of women earlier in their pregnancies, and at a lower cost.

The study, led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with UEA and the University of Nottingham, is the first to investigate online uptake of cessation support among pregnant smokers.

Reducing smoking prevalence in pregnancy is a key public health priority in the UK, where it is a leading preventable cause of adverse prenatal outcomes including miscarriage, stillbirth and prematurity. It is also linked with a wide range of infant health problems. Around 11 per cent of UK women smoke throughout pregnancy and rates rise considerably with increasing social deprivation, which exacerbates health inequalities.

But most pregnant smokers want to quit. Effective ‘distance’ interventions, such as text-message support, may be particularly helpful for this group because of their low cost, convenience, anonymity and wide reach potential, with mobile phone ownership high across the socio-economic spectrum.