Does quitting smoking during pregnancy have a long-term impact on smoking status?

Although pregnancy is often viewed as a unique opportunity to engage women in positive health changes, including smoking cessation, it is not clear whether, or to what extent, smoking cessation initiated during pregnancy persists long term after pregnancy. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between smoking cessation during pregnancy and smoking status three years later.

Data were drawn from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Relation Conditions (NESARC), a nationally representative sample of over 40,000 adults in the United States. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between smoking cessation during pregnancy and odds of smoking three years later. Smoking status at follow-up of women who continued smoking during pregnancy and women who never smoked was also examined. Analyses controlled for demographic differences.

Smoking cessation during pregnancy was not significantly related to smoking status three years later. However, continued smoking during pregnancy was associated with significantly increased odds of smoking three years later, compared to smokers who were not pregnant at baseline. Among non-smokers, pregnancy at baseline was associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of smoking three years later, compared to women who were not pregnant at baseline.

The present study uniquely extends previous research on smoking cessation during and following pregnancy. The results call for increased efforts to develop interventions that help new mothers develop and maintain abstinence from smoking.