BJOG

ObjectiveTo examine the effects of low to moderate maternal alcohol consumption and binge drinking in early pregnancy on behaviour in children at age five years.DesignFollow-up studySettingNeuropsychological testing in four Danish cities 2003\ue2\u20ac\u201c2008PopulationProspective cohort study of 1,628 women and their children sampled from the Danish National Birth Cohort.MethodsParticipants were sampled based on maternal alcohol drinking patterns during early pregnancy. When the children were 5 years old, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Parent and Teacher versions were completed by the mothers and a preschool teacher. The full statistical model included the following potential confounders: Maternal binge drinking or low-moderate alcohol consumption, respectively, parental education, maternal IQ, prenatal maternal smoking, the child\ue2\u20ac\u2122s age at testing, the child\ue2\u20ac\u2122s gender, maternal age, parity, maternal marital status, family-home environment, postnatal parental smoking, pre-pregnancy maternal BMI, and the child\ue2\u20ac\u2122s health status.Main outcome measuresBehaviour among children assessed by the SDQ parent and teacher forms.ResultsAdjusted for all potential confounders, no statistically significant associations were observed between maternal low to moderate average weekly alcohol consumption and SDQ behavioural scores (OR 1.1, CI 0.5\ue2\u20ac\u201c2.3 and OR 1.1., CI 0.6\ue2\u20ac\u201c2.1 for the total difficulties scores) or between binge drinking and SDQ behavioural scores (OR 1.2, CI 0.8\ue2\u20ac\u201c1.7 and OR 0.8, CI 0.6\ue2\u20ac\u201c1.2).ConclusionThis study observed no consistent effects of low to moderate alcohol consumption or binge drinking in early pregnancy on offspring behaviour at age 5 years.CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States2015-05-28T00:00:00Z23837773PMC444718