NIHR Review: Better Beginnings Improving Health for Pregnancy

This review brings together recent evidence on improving health and wellbeing before, during, and after pregnancy from studies funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

It brings together research for factors that can be modified before, during and after pregnancy. the research covers smoking, healthy diet and weight, alcohol and drugs, mental health, violence against women, and supporting families using multifaceted approaches.

Better Beginnings is not a comprehensive review of all evidence on improving health for pregnancy which is a broad area of knowledge and practice. It focuses on building health for women to support pregnancy and the future health of their children.

This review complements other initiatives, drawing on best evidence, including guidance and quality standards from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Further sources of information and resources for each topic are signposted in this report.

Download NIHR Review: Better Beginnings Improving Health for Pregnancy

E-cigarette infographic and detailed brief for health professionals

The Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group has published a new infographic: E-cigarettes in pregnancy: information for pregnant women.

The infographic provides key information to pregnant women who are considering using electronic cigarettes to help them quit smoking. Please do feel free to share it with stop smoking teams as well as any professional networks who may find it useful.

Additional resources on smoking cessation and smoking in pregnancy more generally include:

Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group resources including case studies, shared key messages.
NCSCT: Electronic Cigarettes: A briefing for stop smoking services
NCSCT: Smoking Cessation: A briefing for midwifery staff

If you have any questions or would like to join ASH’s Smoking in Pregnancy and Harm Reduction Yammer Groups please email [email protected].

Nearly half of women who stop smoking during pregnancy go back to smoking soon after the baby is born

Joint research by the Universities of York and Nottingham, published today in the journal ‘Addiction’, has found that 43% of women who smoke, but manage to stay off cigarettes during pregnancy, will go back to smoking within 6 months.

By © 2005 by Tomasz Sienicki [user: tsca, mail: tomasz.sienicki at gmail.com] - Photograph by Tomasz Sienicki / Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=172810

Photograph by Tomasz Sienicki / Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=172810

While not smoking during pregnancy is very important, there is an urgent need to find better ways of helping mothers stay off cigarettes afterwards.

Dr Cheryll Adams, executive director of the iHV, said:

“It is vital that new parents remain smoke-free to ensure that their children are not exposed to the dangers of ‘second-hand’ smoke, as children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ‘second hand’ smoke. Through the universal service, health visitors are well-placed to support parents to continue to be smoke-free after baby is born and to explain the benefits of having a smoke-free home.”

Approximately 18,887 pregnant smokers in the UK (3% of all maternities) used NHS stop-smoking support in the financial year 2014/15..

Paper is free to download for one month after publication from the Wiley Online Library