Prenatal exposure to alcohol, and gender differences on child mental health at age seven years.
BACKGROUND
It remains uncertain whether exposure to lower doses of alcohol is damaging to the developing fetus. The present study aimed to investigate associations for boys and girls between prenatal exposure to binge drinking and lower doses of alcohol in pregnancy, and parent-reported behavioural and emotional development at age seven.


METHODS
This study used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Associations between cumulated alcohol exposure and binge drinking from full pregnancy and parent scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured at age seven were investigated. The SDQ was used as continuous externalising/internalising scores, and as above/below cut-off for the specific scales of hyperactivity/inattention, conduct, emotional and peer problems. Inclusion criteria were information on alcohol exposure from three interviews, SDQ scores at age seven and being born full term (n=37 152).


RESULTS
Controlling for relevant confounders, small positive associations were observed between binge drinking and internalising (relative change in mean: 1.04-1.06), externalising scores (relative change in mean: 1.01-1.07), and conduct scores (OR 1.12 to 1.23) for boys. No associations were observed with lower doses of alcohol.


CONCLUSIONS
Exposure to binge drinking is weakly associated with impaired behavioural and emotional development measured at age seven. Large differences in background characteristics were observed between the groups defined by cumulated alcohol exposure, leaving the interpretations of findings uncertain.
Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, , Copenhagen, Denmark.
Janni
J
Niclasen
J
J
Niclasen
A M
AM
Nybo Andersen
T W
TW
Teasdale
K
K
Strandberg-Larsen
D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
ALCOHOL; CHILD HEALTH; Cohort studies; EPIDEMIOLOGY; PREGNANCY