Women should avoid alcohol unless using contraception

Sexually active women should not drink alcohol unless they are using contraception to reduce the number of babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome, health officials warn.

Women are advised not to drink alcohol if they are trying to get pregnant

The advice follows the release of a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), titled Vital Signs, which showed more than 3.3 million US women risk exposing their developing babies to alcohol because they are drinking, sexually active and not using contraception.

The report analysed data from the 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth, which collated information on family life, marriage, divorce, pregnancy, infertility, use of birth control and men’s and women’s health.

National estimates of alcohol-exposed pregnancies were calculated among 4,303 non-pregnant, non-sterile women aged from 15 to 44-years-old.

The study determined a woman was at risk of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy if in the last month she was not sterile, her partner was not sterile, she had sexual intercourse with a man, consumed any amount of alcohol and did not use contraception.

“Every woman who is pregnant or trying to get pregnant – and her partner – want a healthy baby,” said Coleen Boyle, PhD, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

“It is critical for healthcare providers to assess a woman’s drinking habits during routine medical visits; advise her not to drink at all if she is pregnant, trying to get pregnant or sexually active and not using birth control; and recommend services if she needs help to stop drinking.”

As a result, health care advisors are being encouraged to suggest to women who wish to get pregnant that they should abstain from alcohol as soon as they are no longer using contraception.

“Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, CDC principal deputy director.

“About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won’t know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking.

“The risk is real. Why take the chance?”