Health and Medicine Media

The patches and nicotine gum in pregnant women appear to be safe, a new study.

These patches and gum help adults showed generally quit. But women and obstetricians have had doubts about its safety and effectiveness in pregnancy.

The team of Dr. Swamy, Medical Center of Duke University in North Carolina, reviewed data on pregnant smokers who had participated in a comparative study of psychological therapy with nicotine patches or gum for smoking cessation.

It’s use tripled the number of women who quit (from 8 to 24 percent).

Almost one third (31 percent) of women treated with the patch or the gum had complications of pregnancy, unlike the 17 percent who did not use these products.

The highest risk of suffering these complications occurred in black women, those who have had problems in previous pregnancies and users of pain relievers. Using the patch, said the team had no direct effect.

According to the results, although the patch is not “absolutely sure” the authors conclude that it would be worthwhile to use in heavy smokers, given the known relationship between smoking and poor prognosis of pregnancy, such as preterm delivery and low birthweight birth.