Should We Pay Pregnant Women to Stop Smoking?

Maternal smoking is a potentially modifiable risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm labor, placental abruption, and perinatal mortality. Growing evidence indicates that financial incentives increase smoking cessation.

In this French multicenter randomized trial, researchers enrolled 460 pregnant smokers who were motivated to quit smoking and less than 18 weeks pregnant. All participants attended six smoking cessation visits and received €20 (≈US$22.50) per completed visit; those in the intervention group additionally received increasing financial rewards for abstinence from tobacco at each visit (maximum possible payment, €520 [≈$590]). Women in the intervention group were significantly more likely to achieve sustained s…