[Impact of medical counselling on giving up smoking during pregnancy].

OBJECTIVE

Women s tobacco consumption has increased in Spain in recent years, especially among women of reproductive age. This study aims to evaluate the impact of medical counselling integrated into pre-natal care on tobacco consumption during pregnancy and the period after delivery.

DESIGN

Quasi-experimental intervention study.Setting. Hospital del Mar, Barcelona.

PATIENTS

219 patients who attended the Hospital del Mar for delivery during 1996 (control group) and 169 patients seen during their pregnancies at the same hospital in 1997 (intervention group).

INTERVENTIONS

The control group patients had received normal care. The pregnant women in the intervention group received systematic structured counselling on giving up smoking, backed up by a special brochure composed for this purpose.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

The intervention and control groups showed no statistically significant differences either in their social or demographic variables or in their tobacco consumption. In both groups the evolution of their smoking during pregnancy was determined during their pre-natal visits and six months after delivery through a telephone interview. 44 of the women in the control group (20.1%) gave up smoking before their first pre-natal visit, and 11 (5%) gave up during pregnancy. In the intervention group 26 (17.7%) had given up spontaneously and 16 (10.9%) gave up during pregnancy. Of those who gave up completely during pregnancy, 36.4% of women in the control group and 64.3% in the intervention group remained abstinent at six months (P=.002).

CONCLUSIONS

Counselling at pre-natal check-ups to give up smoking lightly increases the number of women who give up and reduces significantly the number of post-delivery backsliders.