Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to quit the habit if they are offered financial incentives to do so, a new study has found.

A recent report found that almost one in eight mothers in Ireland smoked throughout their pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy is known to increase the risk of health problems in babies, as well as their mothers, however quitting can be extremely difficult.

Scottish researchers decided to assess whether offering financial rewards to pregnant smokers would encourage them to quit the habit.

Over 600 pregnant women were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was offered up to £400 in shopping vouchers if they engaged with smoking cessation services and/or quit smoking while pregnant. The other group was only offered smoking cessation services.

These services included an appointment with a smoking cessation advisor and free nicotine replacement therapy for 10 weeks.

The study found that those in the financial reward group were much more likely to give up smoking than those in the other group. Just 9% of those in the other group managed to quit the habit, compared to 23% in the reward group.

One year later, just 4% of those in the other group who had managed to quit were still off the cigarettes. However, in the reward group, 15% managed to remain off them.

"This study provides substantial evidence of a very promising and potentially cost-effective new intervention to add to present health service support," the researchers said.

They added that offering financial rewards to quit smoking could ‘sit with vaccines as an important preventative healthcare intervention strategy', as helping mothers to stop could have a ripple effect on the health of their children.

Details of these findings are published in the British Medical Journal.

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