One in 10 pregnant women in the U.S. admit to drinking alcohol at least every now and then, and a third of the drinkers admit to binge drinking, federal researchers said Thursday.
They're
putting their children at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, which affects 2 to 5
percent of first-graders, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
There's no known safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy. Alcohol passes from mother to fetus and
experts advise women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant to just keep
away from alcohol.
"All
types of alcohol should be avoided, including red or white wine, beer, and liquor,"
said Cheryl Tan, an epidemiologist in CDC's National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities.
"Excessive
alcohol use is a risk factor for a wide range of health and social problems
including liver cirrhosis, certain cancers, depression, motor vehicle crashes,
and violence," Tan and colleagues wrote in the agency's weekly report on
death and disease.
"Alcohol use during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol
spectrum disorders (FASD) and other adverse birth outcomes. Community studies
estimate that as many as 2 percent to 5 percent of first grade students in the
United States might have an FASD, which include physical, behavioral, or
learning impairments."
The
researchers looked at a survey of more than 200,000 women taken from 2011 to
2013 for their report. It included more than 8,000 who were pregnant at the
time.
Older
mothers and college graduates were more likely to report drinking. Ten percent
of all the pregnant women said they'd had a drink in the past 30 days, and 3
percent said they'd had four or more in a row, which is classified as binge
drinking.
Nearly
19 percent of the pregnant women aged 35 to 44 admitted to having at least one
drink while pregnant. Thirteen percent of college graduates and 13 percent of
unmarried women also said they'd had a drink.
In
comparison, just over half of all women aged 18 to 44 in the U.S. report having
an alcoholic drink in the past 30 days and 18 percent report binge drinking.
But
the pregnant women who admitted the binge drinking said they did it more often
— 4.6 times over the past 30 days, compared to three times over the past month
for all women in the same age group.
"One possible explanation for this might be that women who
binge drink during pregnancy are more likely to be alcohol-dependent than the
average female binge drinker, and therefore binge drink more frequently,"
the researchers wrote.
"We
know that alcohol use during pregnancy can cause birth defects and
developmental disabilities in babies, as well as an increased risk of other
pregnancy problems, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, and prematurity,"
said Coleen Boyle, director of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and
Developmental Disabilities.
"This
is an important reminder that women should not drink any alcohol while
pregnant. It's just not worth the risk."
The
report may underestimate how many women drink while pregnant. The researchers
noted women may not want to admit to behavior they know is harmful, and women
often do not realize they are pregnant for the first four weeks or sometimes
longer. by
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