Low dose alcohol exposure during pregnancy - does it harm?

Writer:	Swedish National Insitute of Public Health
Publishing year:	2009
ISBN:	978-91-7257-634-6
Report number:	R2009:14
Possible to order:	Yes

Women’s social drinking patterns can be difficult to break when planning a pregnancy or when pregnant. Statistics show that 30% of Swedish females continued to drink alcohol during pregnancy. Among researchers there is a consensus about the damaging effect of heavy drinking on the fetus central nervous system. But little is known about low to moderate prenatal alcohol exposure. The Swedish National Institute of Public Health conducted this literature review to examine whether there is an association between low to moderate prenatal alcohol exposure and cognitive and socioemotional development of the child.

This report is written mainly for politicians and people working with or administrators of preventive health care. It is hoped that this report may also be of interest to non governmental organizations.

In Swedish:
Många kvinnor har etablerade alkoholmönster som kan vara svåra att bryta vid en graviditet. Statistiken visar att 30 procent av de svenska mödrarna fortsätter dricka alkohol under sin graviditet. Forskarna är eniga om att stora mängder alkohol skadar utvecklingen av fostrets centrala nervsystem. Effekterna av små till måttliga mängder alkohol diskuteras dock fortfarande av forskarna.

Med detta som bakgrund har Statens folkhälsoinstitut utfört en systematisk litteraturöversikt där syftet är att undersöka om låg till måttlig alkoholkonsumtion under graviditet påverkar barnets kognitiva och socioemotionella utveckling.