Smokers Cut Down On Cigarettes Before Pregnancy Test

Pregnant smokers typically reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke before they even take a test and confirm they are expecting a baby, a recent study has shown.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine discovered pregnancy itself could limit the desire to smoke, as women who took part in its study tended to cut back on smoking by one cigarette a day before they were aware of their pregnancy, News Medical Net reported. 

Dr Suena Huang Massey, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences and medical social sciences at the university, stated: “If biological processes in early pregnancy are also involved as suggested by this study, identifying precisely what these processes are can lead to the development of new smoking-cessation medications.”

The study, which was published in Addiction Biology, also revealed participants reduced their smoking further by four cigarettes a day in the month after finding out they were pregnant. 

Dr Massey suggested hCG hormones, which are produced during pregnancy, could explain why smokers naturally cut down, as hCG levels peak during early pregnancy before the placenta is established. 

The study also found those who did not quit smoking during the first trimester, when the hCG levels are at their highest, were even less likely to do so during the second or third trimesters. 

This is despite the well-known risks to the baby as a result of smoking during pregnancy, including a low birth weight, premature labour, damage to the baby’s lungs and brains, abnormal bleeding during pregnancy and labour, a higher chance of birth defects, and a greater risk of SIDS. 

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