A survey from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study learned that almost one third of women in this country drank alcohol at some point in their pregnancy. The survey also learned, that despite warnings from physicians, 25 percent of women surveyed drank
alcohol in the critical time of their first trimester of pregnancy.
Women who drink heavily during pregnancy may give birth to babies with fetal
alcohol syndrome. This disorder causes deficits in normal growth and development of the central nervous system and effects can be long-term.
A new research study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center looked at 592 adolescents and their mothers. The research study began almost 30 years ago, in 1982, and examined the children's prenatal exposure to alcohol. The study evaluated women at their fourth and seventh months of pregnancy. The study also examined their children at birth, eight and eighteen months, and 3, 6, 10, 14 and 16 years of age.
The researchers discovered that children exposed to an average of one of more alcoholic drinks - be it beer, wine or hard alcohol - each day in their first trimester were more likely to have a conduct, or behavioral disorder, than children whose mothers drank less alcohol during their first trimester.
It is important to remember how dangerous alcohol consumption can be during pregnancy.
A conduct disorder is described as a pattern of severe problems lasting for more than a year and includes aggression towards people and animals, destruction of property, theft and other serious problems.
