Pregnancy threat

Press, 11 August 1980, Page 12

Pregnancy threat

NZPA. London Women who drink alcohol during pregnancy run an increased risk of miscarriage according to two research reports published recently in the British Medical Journal, the “Lancet.” Although heavy drinking in pregnancy is already known to cause mental handicaps and birth abnormalities, it now seems that a little alcohol daily during pregnancy may precipitate miscarriages. The first report is from California, where 32,000 women registered with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan were asked about their drinking habits.

More than half drank no alcohol at all during their pregnancies. Two per cent had one or two drinks every day, while 44 per cent averaged less than one drink daily. Half a per cent regularly had three or more drinks daily.;

The regular, drinkers were found to have ihore miscarriages, particularly between the fourth ■ and Sixth months, than women who drank occasionally or not at all. z i

Compared with the abstainers, the ’ risk to women who took three or more drinks regularly'was increased by 3.5 per cent.

The connection between alcohol and miscarriage was confirmed in. the second “Lancet” report, says “The Times” newspaper. Columbia University studied 1600 women admitted to a New York hospital. Those admitted with miscarriages had drunk on average twice aS much as the Women admitted for normal delivery. >• The New York doctors estimate a quarter of women who drink regu-' larly during pregnancy will miscarry, said “The Times” report, whereas only 14 per cent of women who drank lesS or not at all miscarried.