Alcohol consumption in pregnant women and the outcome of pregnancy.

A prospective study of more than 9000 women shows that during pregnancy, women consuming alcoholic beverages in excess of 40 cl of wine per day have an increased risk of the following unfavorable pregnancy outcomes: (1) the risk of stillbirth is elevated, especially for death from abruptio placentae: (2) mean birth weight is lower, and the risk of a small-for-date infant is increased; (3) placental weight is also decreased. Although heavier drinkers differ from lighter drinkers in a certain number of variables that are risk factors for the outcome of pregnancy, the increase in risk with increased alcohol consumption remains evident after adjustment for these confounding variables. The increase in risk for heavier drinkers appears to be due to beer consumption, in spite of the lower average amount of ethanol consumed by beer drinkers as compared to wine drinkers.