Nykjaer, C orcid.org/0000-0002-8648-9972, Alwan, NA, Greenwood, DC orcid.org/0000-0001-7035-3096 et al. (4 more authors) (2014) Maternal alcohol intake prior to and during pregnancy and risk of adverse birth outcomes: evidence from a British cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 68 (6). pp. 542-549. ISSN 0143-005X
Abstract
Background: Evidence is conflicting regarding the relationship between low maternal alcohol consumption and birth outcomes. This paper aimed to investigate the association between alcohol intake before and during pregnancy with birth weight and gestational age and to examine the effect of timing of exposure.
Methods: A prospective cohort in Leeds, UK, of 1303 pregnant women aged 18–45 years. Questionnaires assessed alcohol consumption before pregnancy and for the three trimesters separately. Categories of alcohol consumption were divided into ≤2 units/week and >2 units/week with a non-drinking category as referent. This was related to size at birth and preterm delivery, adjusting for confounders including salivary cotinine as a biomarker of smoking status.
Results: Nearly two-thirds of women before pregnancy and over half in the first trimester reported alcohol intakes above the Department of Health (UK) guidelines of ≤2 units/week. Associations with birth outcomes were strongest for intakes >2 units/week before pregnancy and in trimesters 1 and 2 compared to non-drinkers. Even women adhering to the guidelines in the first trimester were at significantly higher risk of having babies with lower birth weight, lower birth centile and preterm birth compared to non-drinkers, after adjusting for confounders (p<0.05).
Conclusions: We found the first trimester to be the period most sensitive to the effect of alcohol on the developing fetus. Women adhering to guidelines in this period were still at increased risk of adverse birth outcomes. Our findings suggest that women should be advised to abstain from alcohol when planning to conceive and throughout pregnancy
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2014 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Age; Aged; Alcohol; Alcohol-consumption; Association; Associations; Biomarker; birth; Birth outcomes; Birth Weight; Birth-wight; Cohort; Consumption; Cotinine; Fetus; Gestational age; Gestational-age; Guidlines; Health; Intake; Intakes; Outcomes; Period; Pregnancy; Preterm birth; Prospective cohort; Questionnaire; Questionnaires; Risk; Size; Smoking; UK; Women |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biomedical Sciences (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Food Science and Nutrition (Leeds) > FSN Nutrition and Public Health (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM) > Clinical & Population Science Dept (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Food Standards Agency T01033 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Mar 2014 10:45 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jun 2021 08:49 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2013-202934 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMJ Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1136/jech-2013-202934 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:78106 |