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Twenty-six per cent of UK women report smoking in the 12 months before pregnancy. Manymanage to quit during pregnancy, 1 but in 2017, 10.8% of UK mothers were still smokers at delivery.2 Babies born to smoking mothers are more likely to be low birth weight/preterm, require admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and have an increased risk of respiratory problems during infancy.3 4
Postpartum smoking relapse is high among mothers who stopped during pregnancy.4 Relapse is associated with stress and social/health inequalities. The NICU period is often highly stressful for parents.5 Recent ex-smokers with babies in NICU may be at increased risk of relapse, while those still smoking may find it a …
Footnotes
Contributors CN devised the study. AN collected all data. AN wrote the first draft and all authors revised the manuscript and approved the final version.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethics approval HRA ref: 17/NI/0110 (https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/application-summaries/research-summaries/nesci-study-parent-preferences-for-smoking-cessation-on-nicu/).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
Patient consent for publication Not required.