Infants exposed to alcohol prenatally: outcome at 3 and 7 months of age

Higher alcohol consumption in early pregnancy or low-to-moderate drinking during pregnancy may affect children's behaviour and development at one year and six months

AIM

It is unclear whether low-to-moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy affects child development. This study examined the effects that a mother's self-reported alcohol consumption had on her pregnancy and her child's birth, behaviour and development.

METHODS

We asked 291 Swedish women to report their alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT); provide data on their pregnancy, labour and neonatal period; and complete a child behaviour and development questionnaire when their child was one year and six months of age. The mothers were separated into four subgroups based on their AUDIT scores.

RESULTS

There were no group differences in gestational length, but children were shorter at birth if their mother drank during pregnancy. Mothers with the highest alcohol consumption before pregnancy were generally younger and more likely to smoke, have unplanned pregnancies and have children who displayed behavioural problems than controls who reported abstinence before and during pregnancy. Mothers who drank more during pregnancy than before were more likely to have had abortions and unplanned pregnancies and less likely to breastfeed for more than six months.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggested that low-to-moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy may negatively influence a child's development and behaviour in several ways.

Increasing the report of alcohol use among low-income pregnant women

PURPOSE

To increase the report of prenatal alcohol use in a community setting.

METHODS

A self-administered alcohol screening tool was developed and introduced at 12 randomly selected sites that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). A matched sample of 12 WIC sites continued to use the existing verbal standard of care for assessing alcohol use.

RESULTS

Rates of reported prenatal alcohol consumption at the 12 WIC intervention sites were compared with rates at 12 control WIC sites using a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent-samples t-tests. Within 8 months of study commencement, rates of reported prenatal alcohol consumption were significantly higher at the intervention sites than at the control sites.

DISCUSSION

Use of a brief, self-administered screening tool in the WIC setting significantly increased reports of prenatal alcohol use, a key first step in the reduction of prenatal alcohol use. The WIC setting represents an excellent place to address the significant public health issue of prenatal alcohol exposure.