Pregnant women's receipt of comprehensive guideline recommended antenatal care for smoking (2025)

INTRODUCTION: Antenatal clinical guidelines recommend antenatal care providers routinely assess the smoking status of all pregnant women at the first antenatal visit and, for women who are current smokers, provide cessation support at the first and all subsequent visits. This study aimed to assess women's receipt of comprehensive guideline-recommended care for smoking during pregnancy and the maternal and service characteristics associated with such care.
AIMS AND METHODS: A telephone survey was conducted with women who were recently pregnant and received antenatal care from public maternity services in one Australian local health district.
RESULTS: Of the 514 participants, 9% were smokers when they found out they were pregnant. Of these, 47% continued smoking until giving birth. Almost all participants (96%) were asked about their smoking status at their first antenatal visit. Among pregnant smokers, 76% were asked about their smoking at subsequent visits, 73% were advised to quit, 62% were provided with information or advice to assist in quitting, 24% were offered nicotine replacement therapy, and 38% were offered a referral to Quitline. A third of maternal smokers reported receiving all elements of guideline-recommended care. No associations were found between maternal and service characteristics and receipt of care for smoking.
CONCLUSIONS: Guideline recommended routine assessment and care for smoking in pregnancy may be less than optimal, particularly for smoking cessation interventions with strong evidence of effectiveness-NRT and quitlines. Identification of barriers and implementation of strategies to increase the offer and uptake of these services by women is required.
IMPLICATIONS: This study is the first to examine pregnant women's reported receipt of comprehensive guideline-recommended care for maternal smoking. The findings indicate that a significant proportion of pregnant women attending public maternity services are not receiving comprehensive care and that many are not being offered evidence-based interventions to assist them to quit. Barriers to comprehensive care delivery need to be identified and addressed if the potential for smoking interventions delivered in this setting to impact smoking rates in pregnancy is to be realized. [Author's abstract]