Financial Incentives Might Motivate Pregnant Smokers to Stop Smoking

Smoking during pregnancy is a preventable cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and death. Investigators in the U.K. assessed whether adding financial incentives to routine smoking cessation services improved smoking abstinence in >600 pregnant women (age, ≥16; <24 weeks' gestation; exhaled carbon monoxide test result, ≥7 parts per million) who were randomized to receive financial incentives (intervention) or routine care (control). Routine care involved face-to-face consultation with a smoking cessation advisor and, for those who set quit dates, nicotine replacement therapy for 10 weeks and follow-up phone calls. The intervention group received routine care plus shopping vouchers valued at £400 (about US$610): £50 for attending the face…