Helping Pregnant Smokers Kick the Habit

Pregnant women who smoke may soon get the help they need to quit smoking, thanks to treatment offered as part of a new study at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Funded by a $944,148 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the four-year study will be directed by Dr. Janet Groff, assistant professor of family practice and community medicine at the UT-Houston Medical School. The study also will involve physicians with the medical school's obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences departments.

"Smoking is the most preventable cause of low-birthweight in the United States," said Dr. Groff, who also is research director in the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine at UT-Houston Medical School. "We hope to reach pregnant smokers who can't quit on their own by using intensive counseling techniques that motivate them to quit."

The UT-Houston study will enroll 360 Houston-area women who are approaching their second trimester of pregnancy. Study participants will be randomized into three groups that receive different treatments. Group one will receive standard counseling from a clinical research nurse. Group two will receive ultrasound followed by standard counseling. Group three will receive ultrasound followed by motivational counseling, which is more intensive than standard counseling.

After receiving counseling and ultrasounds, women enrolled in the study will share with the study's health care professionals what the women have learned about how smoking can harm their babies.

"Once a woman sees her baby during ultrasound, we hope she will realize how smoking can impact her baby and express her desire to stop smoking," said Dr. Mary Velasquez, associate professor of family practice and community medicine and co-investigator of the study.

A brief cessation counseling program, which typically takes five to fifteen minutes, can result in a 30 percent reduction of smoking, according to a study published in the fall 2000 Tobacco Control Supplement, Smoking and Pregnancy: Research Findings from the Smoke-Free Families Program.

Other UT-Houston professors working with Drs. Groff and Velasquez are co-investigators Dr. Angela Stotts, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Dr. Robert L. Andres, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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