Comparison of cotinine levels in pregnant women while smoking and when using nicotine replacement therapy

Bowker, Katharine A., Lewis, Sarah, Coleman, Tim, Vaz, Luis R. and Cooper, Sue (2014) Comparison of cotinine levels in pregnant women while smoking and when using nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 16 (6). pp. 895-898. ISSN 1469-994X

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) helps smokers quit smoking, but trials indicate that there is no evidence that it is effective during pregnancy. As metabolism increases during pregnancy, NRT may deliver insufficient nicotine to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. There is mixed evidence as to what levels of cotinine are reached from nicotine exposure during pregnancy while using NRT compared with smoking.

METHODS: We analyzed data on 33 pregnant participants from the NRT arm of a randomized control trial who had stopped smoking and were still using 15mg/16hr nicotine patches 1 month after quitting. Salivary cotinine levels when smoking at baseline were compared with levels on NRT at 1 month using the Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS: Cotinine levels were a median of 98.5ng/ml while smoking and 62.8ng/ml while using NRT and remaining abstinent (p = .045). Participants with the highest cotinine measurements when smoking also tended to have the steepest reduction in cotinine levels while using NRT. This was most noticeable among participants with baseline cotinine levels more than 150ng/ml (n = 9) who had a greater reduction in median cotinine levels (median difference −134.8ng /ml [95% CI = −144.5 to −125.9]) than those with a baseline cotinine level under 150ng/ml (n = 24; median difference −27.9ng/ml [95% CI = −49.35 to −1.75]).

CONCLUSIONS: In a pragmatic trial that replicated clinical practice, cotinine levels generated using NRT during pregnancy were lower than levels achieved from smoking. Although the sample size of this study was small, our findings are significant and are consistent with the hypothesis that NRT patches deliver an inadequate dose of nicotine to aid smoking cessation during pregnancy.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/727833
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine > Division of Primary Care
University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine > Division of Epidemiology and Public Health
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntu029
Related URLs:
URLURL Type
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015104/UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User: Claringburn, Tara
Date Deposited: 02 Mar 2016 08:22
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 16:47
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/32041

Actions (Archive Staff Only)

Edit View Edit View