Is smoking intervention in general practice more successful among pregnant than non-pregnant women?

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a simple smoking intervention programme, carried out by a large number of general practitioners (GPs) among pregnant and non-pregnant women. Four groups of women were defined by the dichotomies pregnant versus non-pregnant and intervention versus control. The intervention was semistructured, using a flip-over and a booklet, and it was implemented in an ordinary sequence of consultations. The study involved 187 GPs in western Norway. The subjects were 350 daily smoking pregnant women and 274 daily smoking non-pregnant women, 18-34 years of age. The point prevalence abstinence rate at 18 months was 15 and 20% for pregnant and non-pregnant women, respectively, in the intervention groups, and 7% in the control groups (Ppregnant = 0.06, Pnon-pregnant = 0.006). Twenty-five per cent of the pregnant women and 34% of the non-pregnant women reported that they had reduced their cigarette consumption, but had not stopped smoking entirely. If we include all drop-outs as smokers, the continuous abstinence rate during 15 months was 6%/0% among pregnant women (intervention/control) and 5%/1% among non-pregnant women. Stopping smoking was associated with having a non-smoking partner (P = 0.001), and being encouraged to do so by their partner (P = 0.004). The prevalence of both pregnant and non-pregnant women who stopped smoking was higher in the intervention than in the control groups. Pregnant women stopped smoking as frequently as non-pregnant individuals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)