Vapes are better at helping pregnant women quit smoking than nicotine patches, according to a new study.
Scientists from Queen Mary University, London, also found that trading cigs for e-cigarettes could lower of the risk of giving birth to an underweight child, an event linked with poor health later in life.
At present, stop-smoking services tend to recommend nicotine patches to pregnant smokers, the researchers said.
Vapes and patches were found to be equally safe, and the only major difference between the two was that fewer e-cigarette users had babies with a low birthweight under 2,500 grams, versus the patch group.
The experts say this is because vapes were more effective in getting the women off the ciggies.
At the end of their pregnancy, women told the study authors whether they had really quit and almost twice as many women stopped after using e-cigarettes than nicotine patches.
Some stopped smoking using a product that the scientists hadn’t assigned, and in most cases, it was women offered patches who went off and sourced their own vapes.
Professor Peter Hajek, Queen Mary University, said: “E-cigarettes seem more effective than nicotine patches in helping pregnant women to quit smoking and because of this, they seem to also lead to better pregnancy outcomes.
“The evidence-based advice to smokers already includes, among other options, a recommendation to switch from smoking to e-cigarettes. Such a recommendation can now be extended to smokers who are pregnant as well.”
Whether nicotine harms babies remains unclear. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) stated most health problems are caused by cigarettes’ toxins other than nicotine.
As a result, the public health group recommends behavioral support and nicotine replacement therapy such as patches, gum and mouth spray.
Unlike gum and patches, pregnant mums can pick their strength and flavors to ease the transition to living smoke-free.
Following the study published in NIHR Journals Library, the team believes the varied choice available is why e-cigarettes have been previously shown to be a more effective nicotine replacement therapy for those who aren’t carrying a child.
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
Edited by Saba Fatima and Asad Ali
