Consumption of Alcohol Beverages and Binge Drinking Among Pregnant Women Aged 18–44 Years — United States, 2015–2017 | MMWR

Consumption of Alcohol Beverages and Binge Drinking Among Pregnant Women Aged 18–44 Years — United States, 2015–2017 | MMWR

MMWR Surveillance Summaries (No. 4)
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• Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance — United States, 2016
  Saswati Sunderam, PhD; Dmitry M. Kissin, MD; Yujia Zhang, PhD; et al.

MMWR Weekly (No. 16)
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Consumption of Alcohol Beverages and Binge Drinking Among Pregnant Women Aged 18–44 Years — United States, 2015–2017

Weekly / April 26, 2019 / 68(16);365–368

Clark H. Denny, PhD1; Cristian S. Acero, MPH1,2; Timothy S. Naimi, MD3; Shin Y. Kim, MPH1 (View author affiliations)

Summary

What is already known about this topic?

Drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. There is no known safe level of alcohol use during pregnancy.

What is added by this report?

Analysis of 2015–2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data found that 11.5% of pregnant women reported current drinking, and 3.9% reported binge drinking during the past 30 days. Women who were not married were more likely to drink alcohol and binge drink during pregnancy than were married women.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Efforts to expand implementation of community-level interventions and universal alcohol screening and brief counseling might decrease the prevalence of drinking during pregnancy.