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Bad behaviour linked to alcohol during pregnancy

06/11/2007

Children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy are more likely to have behavioural problems, a new study suggests.

According to researchers at Indiana University this was found to be true even after other risk factors were taken into account.

Earlier this year the Department of Health advised that women avoid alcohol completely during pregnancy, changing previous guidelines which said one or two alcoholic drinks a week would not pose a risk to the baby's health.

For the latest study researchers analysed data from 4,912 mothers who enrolled in a large-scale study in 1979. Every year until 1994 and then every other year until 2004 the women were asked questions about their substance used during each of their pregnancies.

From the year 1986 onwards 8,621 of their offspring were also assessed every other year between the age of four and 11 for behavioural problems.

Publishing their findings in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, the researchers argue that for each additional day per week that mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy their children had an increase in conduct problems.

Children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy also had more attention and impulsivity problems than children whose mothers did not drink.

Siblings whose mother drank more frequently during one pregnancy had the same level of difficulty with attention and impulsivity.

"The findings thus support a strong inference that prenatal alcohol exposure causes an increased risk of offspring conduct problems through environmental processes," the researchers conclude.

"Therefore, prevention efforts should continue to target alcohol consumption during pregnancy."