Do women change their drinking behaviors while trying to conceive?
GROUND: Prenatal alcohol exposure is a leading cause of preventable mental retardation and developmental disabilities, including fetal alcohol syndrome. Current medical guidelines recommend that no alcohol should be consumed over the period of conception and throughout pregnancy. Although the majority of women reduce alcohol consumption when they realize they are pregnant, this recognition may not occur until well into the first trimester, potentially impacting embryonic development. OBJECTIVES: To describe and assess changes in patterns of women’s alcohol use between the preconception, pre-pregnancy recognition and post-pregnancy recognition time periods. Secondly, to describe characteristics of women consuming any alcohol and those binge drinking during pre- and post-pregnancy recognition periods. METHODS: Computer assisted telephone interviews were conducted with 1042 women who had recently delivered a baby in urban Alberta, Canada. Differences in consumption patterns between time p
