Abstract
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), including birth defects that involve central nervous system impairment, behavioral disorders, and impaired intellectual development, which can lead to difficulties with school and employment. A recent study in four U.S. communities found a 1.1%-5.0% prevalence of FASDs among first-grade students (1). Drinking during pregnancy might also be a risk factor for other adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes, including miscarriage and stillbirth (2). CDC estimated the prevalence of self-reported current drinking (at least one alcohol drink in the past 30 days) and binge drinking (consuming four or more drinks on at least one occasion in the past 30 days) among pregnant women aged 18-44 years, using 2015-2017 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Current drinking and binge drinking in the past 30 days were reported by 11.5% and 3.9% of pregnant women, respectively. Among pregnant women who binge drink, the average frequency of binge drinking in the past 30 days was 4.5 episodes, and the average intensity of binge drinking (the average largest number of drinks reported consumed on any occasion among binge drinkers) was 6.0 drinks. Increased implementation of evidence-based community-level and clinic-level interventions, such as universal alcohol screening and brief counseling in primary and prenatal care, could decrease the prevalence of drinking during pregnancy, which might ultimately reduce the prevalence of FASDs and other adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.
Highlights
Efforts to expand implementation of community-level interventions and universal alcohol screening and brief counseling might decrease the prevalence of drinking during pregnancy
Gynecologists Committee Opinion†† recommends alcohol use screening for all women seeking obstetric-gynecologic care, including counseling patients that there is no known safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy, and recommends that women who are pregnant or who might be pregnant be advised to avoid alcohol use
The combination of evidence-based communitylevel interventions and alcohol screening and brief counseling might decrease alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and the prevalence of FASDs, as well as other adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes
Summary
During 2015–2017, approximately one in nine pregnant women reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days, and among those, about one third reported binge drinking. High blood alcohol concentrations among pregnant women might be harmful to the brain of a developing fetus (3) and could occur even before pregnancy is recognized (4). A study using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (https://www.cdc.gov/prams/index.htm) found that women who binge drink before pregnancy are more likely to drink and binge drink during pregnancy than are women who do not binge drink before pregnancy (4). The MMWR series of publications is published by the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA 30329-4027.
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