Associations Between Maternal Periconceptional Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Craniosynostosis Among Offspring, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2011.

Background: Previous studies of maternal alcohol consumption and craniosynostosis have reported null or inverse associations. We updated a previous analysis of National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) data to further examine associations between maternal alcohol consumption and craniosynostosis.

Methods: NBDPS was a multi-site, population-based case-control study. Mothers of craniosynostosis cases and randomly selected liveborn controls delivered during 1997-2011 completed a telephone interview about pregnancy exposures. We examined associations for self-reported periconceptional maternal alcohol consumption (during the month before conception through the third gestational month) and odds of craniosynostosis in offspring. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between any alcohol consumption and binge consumption and craniosynostosis, overall and by affected suture. Finally, we performed a probabilistic bias analysis using a range of assumptions about the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported consumption by case/control status.

Results: We analyzed interview data from 1435 mothers of craniosynostosis cases and 11,216 mothers of controls. Periconceptional alcohol consumption prevalence was similar among case (36.9%) and control (38.2%) mothers. We observed point estimates near or below 1.0 for alcohol consumption (any and binge) and all suture subtypes of craniosynostosis, with all CIs including the null. Our bias-adjusted estimates for periconceptional alcohol consumption were higher than our conventional estimates but supported the null findings.

Conclusions: We observed primarily null associations between maternal periconceptional alcohol consumption and craniosynostosis. However, our findings do not diminish the prevailing clinical guidance in the United States that pregnant people should abstain from alcohol consumption.