'Heavy Drinking Before Pregnancy' Affects Fetus... 2.5 Times Higher Risk of Delivering Macrosomia Over 4kg

Effects of Alcohol Consumption on Fetal Development and Growth Confirmed in a Cohort Study of 2,886 Participants

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] A study has found that frequent heavy drinking before pregnancy affects fetal development and increases the risk of giving birth to macrosomia babies weighing over 4 kg at birth.

On the 3rd, Dr. Kim Won-ho's research team at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health analyzed the incidence of macrosomia among non-drinkers, moderate drinkers, and high-risk drinkers before pregnancy using the "Korean Pregnancy Registration Cohort." The incidence of macrosomia was 7.5% in the high-risk drinking group, which is more than 2.5 times higher than the 2.9% in the non-drinking group and 3.2% in the moderate drinking group.

The high-risk drinking group is defined as women who consume five or more drinks per occasion at least twice a week.

When the research team analyzed the incidence of macrosomia according to monthly alcohol consumption before pregnancy, a significant increase in macrosomia was observed starting from the group consuming 20 or more drinks. The incidence rates were 3.2% for less than 10 drinks, 3.1% for 10 to 20 drinks, 4.5% for 20 to 30 drinks, and 5.5% for over 30 drinks, showing a proportional increase.

The occurrence of macrosomia is known to increase the risk of complications for both the mother and baby, including maternal hemorrhage during delivery, childhood obesity, and adult diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. This study also found that babies born to mothers who were high-risk drinkers before pregnancy had a significantly higher rate of admission to neonatal intensive care units.

While it has long been known that drinking during pregnancy adversely affects maternal health and fetal development, there has been very little research and evidence regarding alcohol consumption before pregnancy in women of childbearing age. Previous studies reported that drinking during pregnancy increases the risk of low birth weight babies, but this study found that drinking before pregnancy, conversely, increases the risk of macrosomia.

The rate of alcohol consumption among pregnant women is low, between 1% and 5%, but with the recent significant increase in drinking rates among women of childbearing age, this study empirically identified the impact of pre-pregnancy drinking on the fetus. Kwon Jun-wook, director of the National Institute of Health, explained, "This is the first time direct evidence has been presented through the Korean Pregnancy Cohort that pre-pregnancy drinking, along with the risks of drinking during pregnancy, increases the risk of macrosomia through abnormal fetal development."

The study also added "high-risk drinking before pregnancy" to existing macrosomia risk prediction models and tracked macrosomia birth outcomes, resulting in a 10.6% improvement in predictive accuracy compared to previous models.

Currently, macrosomia diagnosis in newborns uses methods such as ultrasound, amniotic fluid measurement, and fetal height measurement, but their accuracy is very low. Additionally, macrosomia can only be confirmed after hospital delivery, so there is a need to develop risk prediction models that can more quickly and accurately predict the risk of macrosomia early in pregnancy.

The study results were published online in the international clinical epidemiology journal "PLOS One."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.