Decreased birth weight in infants of alcoholic women who abstained during pregnancy.

Fifty infants born to women who reported total abstinence during pregnancy, but who had a history of alcoholism prior to conception, were compared to 50 infants born to alcoholic women who reported drinking heavily during pregnancy, and to 50 infants of nonalcoholic controls. Mean birth weight of infants born to the abstinent alcoholics was 258 gm less than mean birth weight of the control infants. Infants of drinking alcoholics weighed 493 gm less than the control infants. These differences in offspring birth weight were statistically significant after adjusting for maternal smoking, height, age, and parity, as well as gestational age and sex of child. This finding suggests that a history of maternal alcoholism may pose a risk to fetal growth independent of alcohol use during the pregnancy.