Counselling for smoking cessation during pregnancy reduces tobacco-specific nitrosamine (NNAL) concentrations: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Smoking cessation during pregnancy is beneficial to both the mother and child. Our objective was to assess if an intensive smoking cessation intervention for pregnant women increases: a) rates of smoking cessation, and b) reduces exposure to tobacco-specific carcinogens during pregnancy.

Methods: A two-group single-blinded parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted involving 84 pregnant smokers in either a high intensity (n=42) or minimal contact control group (n=42).