Optimizing Technology-Delivered Interventions for Smoking in Pregnancy: The Mommy Check-Up Study.

Tobacco smoking in pregnancy remains one of the most important and preventable cause of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Data from National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) suggests, that the annual average rates of current cigarette use among women aged 15 to 44 who were not pregnant decreased from 30.7 percent in 2002-2003 to 24.0 percent in 2012-2013. However, the prevalence of cigarette use among pregnant women in this age range did not change significantly during the same time period (18.0 percent in 2002-2003 and 15.4 percent in 2012-2013)Smoking cigarettes during pregnancy and nursing causes considerable health damage to the fetus and to the infant during the initial growth phase. An estimated 19.8 million women in the United States smoke. Nationally, 23 percent of women report smoking in the 3 months before pregnancy, while 13 percent report smoking in the last 3 months of pregnancy. Overwhelming evidence suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with an adverse pregnancy outcomes including IUGR, placenta previa, abruption placentae, preterm premature rupture of membranes, low birth weight, perinatal mortality, intrapartum stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy. Moreover, prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke also increases risk of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the offspring.Children born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk of asthma, infantile colic, and childhood obesity.

Brief interventions are shown to be associated with small but clear increases in smoking cessation in pregnancy, but are rarely used. Technology may fill this void. For the present study, pregnant women reporting smoking during pregnancy will be recruited and randomly assigned to one of eight combinations of three technology-delivered intervention approaches: Brief intervention, Quitline referral, and "SmokeFreeMoms" text messages (http://women.smokefree.gov/smokefreemom.aspx).