Women Who Drink Heavily Face Higher Chance Of Unintended Pregnancy

A caller study has recovered that, among women pinch a precocious desire to debar becoming pregnant, those who drank heavy had a 50% higher consequence of becoming pregnant than those who drank moderately aliases not astatine all. In contrast, participants who utilized cannabis were nary much apt to person an undesired gestation than participants who did not usage cannabis.

From a larger sample of complete 2,000 non-pregnant women aged 15-34, researchers identified a subgroup of 936 who didn't want to get pregnant. Within that subgroup, 429 reported dense drinking (as measured utilizing a modular intoxicant screening questionnaire) and 362 reported utilizing cannabis (including 157 who reported regular aliases almost regular use).

Those who drank heavy and those who utilized cannabis often had a higher wide desire to debar pregnancy, compared pinch participants who drank moderately aliases not astatine each and participants who did not usage cannabis.

Over nan people of 1 year, 71 of nan 936 women who astir wanted to debar gestation became pregnant. More than half of those undesired pregnancies (38) occurred among those who drank heavily, much than nan mixed number for those who drank moderately aliases not astatine all. In different words, dense drinking was associated pinch a higher consequence of undesired gestation compared pinch little levels of drinking.

In contrast, little than half of nan 71 undesired pregnancies (28) occurred among group who utilized cannabis, meaning that those who utilized cannabis did not show an elevated consequence of undesired gestation compared pinch group who did not usage cannabis. 

Lead writer Dr Sarah Raifman, of nan University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, comments: "This study made 2 important findings. First, non-pregnant women who portion heavy appear, connected average, to person a higher desire to debar gestation than those who portion moderately aliases not astatine all. Second, drinking heavy arsenic opposed to moderately aliases not astatine each appears to put those who astir want to debar gestation astatine higher consequence of becoming pregnant wrong 1 year. Finding retired why those pregnancies hap is nan adjacent measurement successful our research."

"In nan meantime, fixed nan perchance life-altering effects of fetal intoxicant spectrum disorders (which hap erstwhile a fetus is exposed to intoxicant done nan mother's drinking) and nan truth that nan consequence of FASD increases pinch nan magnitude and long of nan mother's drinking, it's important for doctors and clinicians to support women who portion heavy to extremity drinking arsenic soon arsenic they fishy an unintentional pregnancy."