15 percent of pregnant women drink alcohol, study says

Despite widespread warnings about the potential risk of drinking alcohol during pregnancy, 15 percent of pregnant women in a newly published study said they had drunk alcohol at least once during their pregnancies.

And although most of those women reported on an anonymous survey that they'd had less than one drink a week, some acknowledged drinking more than that on a regular basis, or said they'd had at least one binge of five or more drinks at once.

The study, published in the Jan. 2003 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research by a team from the U-M Health System (UMHS), also found that women who smoke during pregnancy were more likely to drink alcohol tooas were women in earlier stages of pregnancy. Only about half of the women recalled being asked about their drinking by their obstetric providers.

In all, the authors say, the results suggest that doctors and other health care providers should assess all women's drinking behavior during prenatal visits and counsel certain women more intensely about drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

"The good news is, most pregnant women aren't drinking, and those who do drink aren't drinking much," says lead author and psychologist Heather Flynn, an assistant research scientist at the U-M Addiction Research Center (UMARC) and a clinical associate in the Medical School's Department of Psychiatry. "But there's a subgroup that's at high risk, and we need to do more to understand and reach them."

The specific dose-related effects of alcohol exposure in the womb on a child's mental and physical health have not been well documented. Still, most medical authorities advise that pregnant women refrain from drinking alcohol, though a few suggest that an occasional drink may pose an acceptably low risk to the fetus.

The results reported in the new paper document the incidence of alcohol use among a large, diverse and general population of women, as well as demonstrating the feasibility of surveying such a group for the purposes of screening for alcohol use.

Flynn and her colleagues surveyed 1,131 pregnant women, ranging in age from 18-46 years. The women were three-41 weeks pregnant.

In addition to Flynn, the research team includes U-M associate professor of psychiatry Dr. Sheila Marcus; Kristen Barry, senior associate research scientist at UMARC; and Frederic Blow, associate professor of psychiatry and senior associate research scientist at UMARC. The survey was carried out by U-M psychology students, with cooperation from the U-M Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, chaired by Dr. Timothy R. B. Johnson.

More stories

• Boggs: Affirmative action fight is 'righteous'
• U-M announces new Center for the Advancement of Behavioral and Social Science
• Polverini to return as head of dental school
• A day for children
• Date set for admissions lawsuits
• A landmark decision in the making
• Broadway construction to begin soon
• Athletics cuts 'not all Title IX's fault'
• Staff Spotlight: Cooking up a passion for the arts
• Country isn't free of racism and discrimination
• CoE kicks off yearlong series of MLK events
• More minorities needed in math fields
• 'The People and Their Sky' explores legends and lore
• Sarri discusses reasons for plight of poor women
• Gomes: 'You are on the side of the future'
• Rajmohan Gandhi discusses legacies of his grandfather, King
• Poets address peace, racism and politics
• Co-adapter of 'Midnight's Children' to give lecture
• Covering war and bioterrorism
• U-M Tech Transfer builds on successes
• 15 percent of pregnant women drink alcohol, study says