New research published this week might make you think twice before picking up that glass of wine while you’re pregnant.
According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, no amount of alcohol at any point during pregnancy is safe, especially in the first trimester.
“The fact that we didn’t find a safe threshold is important,” said study author Christina Chambers, an associate professor of pediatrics and family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. “Not every child of women who drink even very heavily has all the features, so there are certain susceptibility factors that we don’t know.
Classic physical features of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) include smooth philtrum, thin vermillion border, short palpebral fissures, microcephaly, and weight and height growth deficiencies. Yet, there is a lack of clear-cut information on the risk of each of these specific features in relation to the amount and timing of alcohol consumption in pregnancy.
Dr. Feldman and colleagues quantified risks for these specific alcohol-related features on the basis of specific patterns and timing of exposure during pregnancy. The analysis focused on 992 women and their infants. The mean age of the women was 31 years.
The study was designed to address two challenges in FAS research, Dr. Feldman explained. The first is obtaining accurate alcohol exposure history from the women, which may involve social stigma and recall bias.
"This study helped to improve the quality of that information by collecting information during pregnancy when women were as yet unaware of the pregnancy outcome. The data were also collected by trained counseling specialists who built rapport with the woman and guaranteed confidentiality while collecting sensitive information," Dr. Feldman said.
The second challenge is getting quality information on physical features of FAS. "These cardinal alcohol-related features are often subtle, and a non-expert examiner may miss or misclassify features, and/or can be biased by subjectivity, especially if he/she suspects or knows about prenatal alcohol exposure," Dr. Feldman noted.
"This study used an exposure-blinded expert dysmorphologist to look for these features. Importantly, potential bias due to subjectivity was reduced because these examinations were conducted in the context of a larger study in which women were enrolled with exposure to one of over 70 agents of interest, only one of which was alcohol," she explained.
Patterns of drinking were evaluated by drinks per day, number of binge episodes, and maximum number of drinks. Timing of exposure was evaluated 0 to 6 weeks postconception, 6 to 12 weeks postconception, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester.
According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, no amount of alcohol at any point during pregnancy is safe, especially in the first trimester.
“The fact that we didn’t find a safe threshold is important,” said study author Christina Chambers, an associate professor of pediatrics and family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. “Not every child of women who drink even very heavily has all the features, so there are certain susceptibility factors that we don’t know.
Classic physical features of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) include smooth philtrum, thin vermillion border, short palpebral fissures, microcephaly, and weight and height growth deficiencies. Yet, there is a lack of clear-cut information on the risk of each of these specific features in relation to the amount and timing of alcohol consumption in pregnancy.
Dr. Feldman and colleagues quantified risks for these specific alcohol-related features on the basis of specific patterns and timing of exposure during pregnancy. The analysis focused on 992 women and their infants. The mean age of the women was 31 years.
The study was designed to address two challenges in FAS research, Dr. Feldman explained. The first is obtaining accurate alcohol exposure history from the women, which may involve social stigma and recall bias.
"This study helped to improve the quality of that information by collecting information during pregnancy when women were as yet unaware of the pregnancy outcome. The data were also collected by trained counseling specialists who built rapport with the woman and guaranteed confidentiality while collecting sensitive information," Dr. Feldman said.
The second challenge is getting quality information on physical features of FAS. "These cardinal alcohol-related features are often subtle, and a non-expert examiner may miss or misclassify features, and/or can be biased by subjectivity, especially if he/she suspects or knows about prenatal alcohol exposure," Dr. Feldman noted.
"This study used an exposure-blinded expert dysmorphologist to look for these features. Importantly, potential bias due to subjectivity was reduced because these examinations were conducted in the context of a larger study in which women were enrolled with exposure to one of over 70 agents of interest, only one of which was alcohol," she explained.
Patterns of drinking were evaluated by drinks per day, number of binge episodes, and maximum number of drinks. Timing of exposure was evaluated 0 to 6 weeks postconception, 6 to 12 weeks postconception, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester.
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