Pregnancy complications, such as low birth weight, premature delivery, sudden infant death syndrome, and dozens of other problems occur more frequently among women who smoke than non-smokers. Yet, in spite of these facts, some women, including pregnant women, cannot seem to quit.
Smoking is a very powerful, very deadly addiction.
Dr. Oncken is currently studying ways to help women with high risk factors, including pregnancy, stop smoking. There are openings in three of her studies. Pregnancy may be an especially difficult time to quit smoking because of the new stresses and strains pregnancy presents. Dr. Oncken's study targets women in the second and third trimesters of their pregnancy, when most of the fetal growth occurs. Women in Dr. Oncken's pregnancy study will receive individual smoking-cessation counseling, as well as one week of nicotine replacement therapy which will deliver the same or lesser amounts of nicotine than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.