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Effects Of Alcohol Consumption By Pregnant Moms

A recent national survey found that nearly one third of women drank alcohol at some time during their pregnancy. Heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy is the cause of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a cluster of birth defects. However, most women who drink while pregnant are light to moderate users who quit or reduce alcohol use by mid-pregnancy, producing fewer and less severe effects. This study evaluated the association between prenatal alcohol exposure and conduct disorder (CD) in adolescent offspring. Two study groups were selected from a screening of 1360 women interviewed at a prenatal clinic during the fourth month of their pregnancy. One group was selected to study the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on development and included women who drank an average of three or more drinks a week. A second group was selected to study the effects of marijuana.  Both groups included women who abstained from substance use during pregnancy.

The women were interviewed at their fourth and seventh month of pregnancy and with their children at birth, 8 and 18 months, and 3, 8, 10, and 14 years. Offspring and their mothers or caretakers were interviewed again at age 16 when current and lifetime psychiatric disorders in both the mothers and offspring were diagnosed. Over half of the mothers met the criteria for a lifetime diagnosis, including CD (9.5%), antisocial personality disorder (5.8%) or a substance use disorder (SUD; 27). Among the adolescent offspring (48% male) the lifetime prevalence of CD was 11.5%. Adolescents exposed to an average of one or more drinks per day in the first trimester were three times more likely to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of CD than adolescents whose mothers drank less than that or abstained. The study also found that youth who rated their parents as more strict and involved were less likely to have CD. Exposure to binge drinking, marijuana, cocaine, and other illicit drugs during pregnancy did not increase the risk for CD in offspring. 

The effects of alcohol exposure during the first trimester remained constant even after controlling for other variables such as environment, or a mother’s psychopathology. The researchers did not have information about the psychiatric status of the father and so were unable to control for that variable. The study showed that first trimester alcohol consumption above the level of 1 drink per day predicts later conduct disorders in exposed offspring.

(Larkby, CA, Goldschmidt, L, Hanusa, BH, Day, NL: Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with conduct disorder in adolescence: findings in a birth cohort.  Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 50:  262-271, 2011)

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