Caffeine and pregnancy. A retrospective survey.

A population group consisting of 800 households of women who recently had been pregnant was surveyed to determine the level of consumption of a variety of beverages. Three fourths of the subjects were Mormon. Of a subgroup of 16 women identified as having an estimated daily intake of caffeine of 600 mg or greater, 13 had experienced a reproductive loss in the form of spontaneous abortion (eight) or stillbirth (five), two had given birth to premature infants, and only one had had an uncomplicated delivery. An inordinately high rate or reproductive loss also was noted in 13 households where the man's estimated daily intake of caffeine was greater than 600 mg. A cause-and-effect relationship cannot be determined by this type of retrospective study, but physicians should keep in mind the possibility that an excessive intake of caffeine may be a factor in otherwise unexplainable spontaneous abortion or perinatal mortality.