A new study out of Denmark suggests that women who use nicotine patches or gum during pregnancy do not increase the risk of stillbirth and that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) could be considered a "possible harm-reduction strategy," Reuters reported Oct. 24.

Researchers collected data on NRT use and smoking for 87,032 pregnancies. Two percent of women reported using nicotine replacement during pregnancy; 14 percent of NRT users had not smoked during pregnancy, 30 percent quit smoking, and 56 percent continued to smoke.

The research reported 495 stillbirths, eight of them among the NRT users. NRT users had a 43-percent lower risk of stillbirth compared to non-users, after accounting for other risk factors. For NRT users who continued to smoke, the risk was reduced by 17 percent compared to nonsmokers.

Smokers who did not use NRT during pregnancy had a 46-percent higher risk of having a stillbirth. The risk was unaffected by whether a nicotine patch or gum was used.

The researchers suggested that NRT users may comprise a group of healthier smokers more likely to follow preventive advice during pregnancy, and that "medical risk factors may have been less prevalent among NRT users than among non-users.”

The study appeared in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.