A new study has found that more than one in ten women gets drunk in the first stages of her pregnancy
More than one in 10 women get drunk during the first three months of their pregnancy, researchers have found.
In a new study 12 per cent of women confessed to binge drinking during the first trimester of a pregnancy, while 0.5 per cent admitted drinking too much between months three and six.
The research also showed that a significant 16 per cent of women admitted to 'light' alcohol drinking during the first three months of a pregnancy and 10 per cent in the second trimester.
The study team from Norway found that alcohol consumption during pregnancy was linked to negative emotions such as anxiety and depression.
Women with so-called 'negative affectivity' tend to have an unfavourable view of themselves and the world in general.
Previous studies have associated negative emotions with more stress, intense emotional reactions to daily life and a likelihood to use intoxicating substances.
The authors said mothers who use alcohol while pregnant place their unborn child at risk of premature birth, low birthweight, foetal alcohol syndrome and even foetal death.
These serious health risks have led health experts worldwide to recommend that women abstain from alcohol while trying to conceive and during pregnancy.
Yet prior evidence indicates that up to one in two women say they drink alcohol while pregnant, with low income level, partner's drinking behaviour, and mother's pre-pregnancy alcohol use all contributing risk factors.
A study carried out in Norway saw twelve percent of the women involved admitting to binge drinking during their first trimester
Dr Stene-Larson, who led the study, at the Norweigen Institute of Public Health in Oslo, said: 'Our findings clearly show a link between a mother's negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, and light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy.
'Further study is needed to understand why women continue to drink alcohol while pregnant despite health warnings.'
The research is published in the science journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.
PUTTING BABY IN DANGER: HOW DOCTORS CARRIED OUT THE RESEARCH
A woman minding her alcohol consumption
The latest research studied data from 66,111 pregnant women and their partners who were part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).
Mothers filled out surveys related to alcohol use at 17 and 30 weeks of gestation.
The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) was used in the present study to measure light alcohol use (0.5 to 2 units, 1-4 times per month) and binge drinking (intake of 5 alcohol units or more in a single drinking episode).
In Norway one unit of alcohol is equivalent to "one glass (1/3 liter or ?11 oz) of beer, one sherry glass of fortified wine, or one snaps (shot) glass of spirit or liqueur."
Negative emotions were assessed in gestational weeks 17 and 30 using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, which measures anxiety and depression.
Medical evidence has established that measures of anxiety and depression symptoms are comparable to negative affectivity measures.
The findings indicate that with each unit increase in maternal negative affectivity, the odds for light alcohol increased in the first and second trimester, 27 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively.
The odds for binge drinking were much higher at 55 per cent in the first trimester and 114 per cent in the second trimester for each unit increase of negative affectivity in the mother.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2460403/More-women-admit-getting-drunk-months-pregnancy.html#ixzz2hp4NLd2S
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