Obstetrical textbooks: recommendations about drinking during pregnancy.
BACKGROUND
For the past 2 decades, public health authorities have recommended that pregnant women abstain from alcohol. We reviewed obstetrical textbooks published over the last 4 decades to identify trends in recommendations for drinking during pregnancy. The study was begun in 2000 and completed in 2001.


METHODS
Eighty-one texts were identified from a national listing service (n =51) and local library shelves (n =30).


RESULTS
Only 14 (17%) of the texts contained a consistent recommendation that pregnant women should not drink alcohol. Although there was a slight upward trend toward recommendations for abstinence in more recent texts, only 24% of the 29 texts published after 1990 were in this category. Fifty-three percent of all texts and 52% of texts published after 1990 contained a sentence condoning drinking at some level. The remaining texts (30%) contained no recommendations.


CONCLUSIONS
Many texts, even those published recently, have not embraced public health recommendations and, in some instances, contradict them.
Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Internal Medicine, Richmond, Virginia 23298, USA.
Karen Q
KQ
Loop
Mary D
MD
Nettleman
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009774:Obstetrics; D011247:Pregnancy; D013782:Textbooks as Topic