[The effect of moderate intake of alcohol during pregnancy on the weight of the newborn].

Background: There is currently no doubt concerning the detrimental effects of the intake of high doses of alcohol during pregnancy. Nonetheless, there has been some controversy regarding the effects of intake of low or moderate quantities of alcohol. The aim of the present study, carried out within the framework of a more extensive European study (EUROMAC), was to specifically analyze the relation between moderate intake of alcohol in pregnant women and the weight of the newborns.

Methods: A prospective cohort study including 1,005 women who attended prenatal consultation in the Hospital La Fe of Valencia between 12 and 18 weeks of pregnancy during 1989 was performed. All the subjects were asked on alcohol intake during the week prior to the interview with data on other sociodemographic and biologic variables being collected. Variance analysis was carried out to evaluate the association of the weight of the newborn with alcohol intake as well as with each of the control variables. Multiple lineal regression analysis was performed by the minimum squares method to evaluate possible effects of confusion and interaction.

Results: Following adjustment for parity, weight of the mother prior to pregnancy, sex of the newborn, age at pregnancy and tobacco consumption, only a slight reduction in the weight of the newborns was observed in the category of intake greater than 90 g/week, however this difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusions: The low or moderate intake of alcohol during the first months of pregnancy has no detectable effect on fetal growth.