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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 154, No. 8 : 777-782
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

PRACTICE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Binge Drinking in Pregnancy—Frequency and Methodology

Ulrik Kesmodel1

1 Current address: Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

Independent of average alcohol intake, the effect of binge drinking on adverse pregnancy outcomes in humans is only sporadically reported, but most studies in humans have found little or no effect of binge drinking on several adverse pregnancy outcomes. In a representative sample of 371 pregnant Danish women, the agreement between two different measures of binge drinking during the first half of pregnancy obtained from interviews and questionnaires was assessed, and the frequency and pattern of binge drinking were described. The percentage of agreement between the methods ranged between 81% and 86%. The proportion of women who reported binge drinking depended on the definition of pregnancy, but the proportion peaked in week 3 measured from the last menstrual period and thereafter declined to approximately 1 percent in week 7. On the basis of this 1998 study, it is suggested that most human studies on binge drinking in pregnancy may have failed to find any association because of methodological problems. It is suggested that future studies should take into account the number of binge episodes as well as the time of binge drinking. This information may easily be obtained from most pregnant women by asking two questions in interviews or questionnaires.

alcohol drinking; bias (epidemiology); questionnaires; pregnancy


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