Coffee drinking and risk of preterm birth.

OBJECTIVES: We analysed the association between coffee drinking before and during the three trimesters of pregnancy and the risk of preterm birth of babies normal for gestational age (NGA) or small for gestational age (SGA). METHODS: Case-control study conducted in University clinics of North Italy. Cases were 502 women who delivered at <37 weeks of gestation. The controls included 1966 women who gave birth at term (&rt;or=37 weeks of gestation) to healthy infants on randomly selected days at the hospitals where cases had been identified. RESULTS: There was inverse association for coffee consumption in the third trimester of pregnancy in SGA cases compared to NGA (heterogeneity test between OR: chi1(2)=5.6811 P