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NEW RESEARCH HAS found that pregnant women are more likely to quit smoking if they’re paid.
The BMJ study found financial incentives such as shopping vouchers were far more effective in getting expectant mothers to quit smoking than if they were just offered traditional support on Britain’s NHS.
Over 600 pregnant smokers in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who were at least 16 years of age and less than 24 weeks pregnant took part.
One group of 303 women (the control group) received routine care – which was the offer of a face to face appointment to discuss smoking and cessation and the offer of free nicotine replacement therapy for 10 weeks and four weekly support phone calls.
The other 306 women (the intervention group) received routine care plus the offer of up to £400 of shopping vouchers.
They received £50 for attending a face to face appointment and setting a quit date; then another £50 if at four weeks’ post-quit date exhaled carbon monoxide confirmed quitting; a further £100 was provided after 12 weeks and a final £200 voucher was provided at 34-38 weeks’ gestation.
The study found, “more smokers in the incentives group than control group stopped smoking: 69 (22.5%) versus 26 (8.6%).”
The women used the vouchers at High Street stores such as Iceland, Argos and Mothercare.
Of 125,000 spontaneous miscarriages that occur each year in the United Kingdom, 25,000 are associated with smoking during pregnancy.
Methodology has been developed to run a definitive multicentre trial to examine generalisability and cost effectiveness in the United Kingdom.
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This is where we’re at now is it? Paying people to make sure their child is born healthy. Christ.
It’s amazing how they constantly find innovative ways to abuse and insult taxpayers
Pay them they should be prosecuted for abuse after all its against the law to smoke in a car with a child present so what’s the difference
Turn it on its head and dock them child benefit for smoking while pregnant.
They wanna bring in new laws to ban smoking in cars where children are present but its perfectly okay for females to smoke while pregnant but if they get paid they will stop, Makes sense right?
Let’s pay people to not take heroin.
“You should quit smoking it may do serious harm to your child”
“no I love my ciggies”
“what about for an Argos voucher”
“ok ok I quit”
They should be offered free contraception for next time. FFS!
If it takes cash for them to realise the danger there’s something wrong!
How about just sterilizing them
WOW! Your baby’s health isn’t an incentive to stop smoking. The money you save by not buying cigarettes isn’t incentive enough either. But shopping vouchers do the trick?
It should be a financial incentive in the form of a fine if they are caught!! This is not what I pay my taxes for, everyone knows the risk of smoking let alone while pregnant! Enough of the nanny state!
Would a fine not also be encroachment by this supposed nanny state.
What an encouraging sign of humanity…
If being paid is their only incentive to quit smoking while pregnant then these mothers are off to a very bad start.
Is there no such thing as personal responsibility any more?
Seems to be a culture now where people expect government to protect them from their own stupidity. This is the unfortunate result.
Is there a typo? Should paid not be “jailed” ?
Think they’ll find people are more likely to do anything if they’re paid to do it
The law brought in for smoking with kids in the car should be brought in for smoking while pregnant. Both are disgusting…
Those poor kids are off to a rough start already i think
Cool, vouchers for cigarettes…genius idea.
This article is the definition of click bait.
I think this study reveals more about the type of people who smoke rather than why they give up.
Any chance the state would pay me to give up alcohol?
I know it can be bad for me so I feel entitled to be paid if I am expected to take responsibility for my own health.
Pay someone to have morals, surly a mothers instinct to look after their child should be enough. :/
Haha this is worthy of The Onion or WWN… so by that logic ALL pregnant non smoking women are being given free vouchers just because? Sweet!
And what about women who never smoked they get a pat on the back?
Well, they’ll probably live longer, so there’s that…
Oh, FFS, what’s wrong with adult responsibility?
You would hope this wouldn’t need to be implemented now as a new health policy.. could people not take some personal responsibility rather than having to be bribed with vouchers to quit smoking when pregnant!
PAYED!!! They should be spayed.
just pay them to be sterilised
Jaysus if you need any incentive at all to give up smoking when pregnant other than your baby’s health then you shouldn’t be allowed have children full stop.
It should be illegal for a pregnant women to smoke.
But all know the women’s libbers we not allow any criticism of women
Probably all kicked off by that horrible yoke Josie Cunningham, it would be something like she would do for a few bob.
Wondering how many people jumped straight to comments !?
Maggie. All the ones who wouldent endanger their babies life.
They should be neutered
Stay classy, ladies
When I see pregnant women outside the retunda the coombe and hollis street smoking I roll down my window and shout ” selfish bitchs” but they dont care . Dont care .
This really shows that the government or whoever came up with this bull really don’t understand the smoking trap. If money would work then no one would smoke, it costs more to smoke than those payments could pay. Try giving out Allen Carrs books on Easyway to stop smoking. At least he understands the trap and it really works instead of promoting nicotine substitutes or this silly idea of payments. Who comes up with this crap!!!!
How about paying people who dont smoke not the dicks who continue to smoke while pregnant
Seems that in this country everything can be put to rights by throwing money at it.
It was in the UK
Brendan you say “not a great deal harm” then you say “minimum harm”. The unborn child should be subject to NO harm. It’s what happens in the womb that maps out their life. And pregnant women who smoke then go onto wonder why their babies have constant chest infections and can go onto to develop asthma etc.
The facts are now indisputable that smoking harms the unborn child.
These women obviously care about money more than their child’s health
Is having a healthy baby not incentive enough?!!! Ridiculous
As long as they’re not chainsmoking it’s not a great deal harmful, this happened for a long time before these politically correct times and people were healthier
I’d like you to look at statistics on life expectancy throughout history and say that again…
Cigarettes were not invented until relatively recently and for many years they did minimal harm
I just cant understand how any woman could knowenly harm their unborn child. And to even contemplate paying said females to stop is madness.
Something seriously wrong with this country…
I READ THAT WOMEN WHO SMOKE DURING PREGNANCY CAN CAUSE CANCER TO DEVELOP LATER ON IN LIFE TO THEIR CHILDREN, SCARY THOUGHT.
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Smoking and pregnancy can’t be mixed altogether, as smoking can expose carbon monoxide to the baby, so the supply of oxygen, in order to deliver sufficient nutrients, is limited. Other familiar things that affect a healthy pregnancy can be seen here: http://aboutgettingpregnant.com
Share your quit smoking story or be inspired by others.
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igbuduzaza1spelltemple, he told us that we will either conceive in Jan 2015 or Feb 24,but two years of trying we were at a point where we were willing to try anything. And I’m glad we came to Dr igbudu of zaza kingdom Because his pregnancy spell cast put us at ease, and I honestly believe him, after 3months i fell always dizzy and then i went to see my doctor who discovered that i was 2months pregnant, i feinted at the moment because i was so surprise i never new that it will work thanks to Dr igbudu of zaza kingdom who made it possible for i to have a child of my own and i believe he will do yours today ,you can email him via :igbuduzaza1spelltemple@gmail.com if you are trying to get a baby or want your lover back. he has powers to do it, he has done mine, and he will do yours.
Cigarette smoking is believed to shut down progesterone receptors in the body. Smoking has also been shown to trigger premature menopause and increase infertility in younger women. See other bad habit result in severe effect towards pregnancy: http://www.getyourbump.com
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