Chambers said the dangers of early-pregnancy drinking are not always obvious. "Some babies born to mothers who drink alcohol heavily during pregnancy have a pattern of birth defects known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which includes some differences in appearance of the child's face, poor growth, and long-term learning and behavior problems," added Chambers. "Many more children, whose mothers may drink smaller amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, are affected perhaps to a lesser extent by a wider spectrum of alcohol-related effects known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). FAS may be more recognized, but FASD is actually more widespread."
As part of a larger study of intervention strategies, researchers conducted cross-sectional in-home interviews with 100 pregnant low-income Latinas who were receiving services from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children in San Diego County, California.
"We found that 43 percent of pregnant Latinas in our sample reported some alcohol consumption in the three months before recognizing they were pregnant," said Chambers, "and that 20 percent of the pregnant Latinas reported at least one binge episode of four or more standard drinks during that same time period. These figures are similar to many other race/ethnic groups in the U.S."
The study also found that women who reported drinking were very aware of universal alcohol-warning messages and, in fact, had a higher level of general knowledge about associated problems than did the non-drinkers in the group.
"Latinas who spoke English, were more acculturated, were younger, more educated, had ever been tobacco users, and had been pregnant fewer times were more likely to report drinking in the time surrounding early pregnancy," said Chambers. "I
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14-Nov-2005