title: Meconium indicators of maternal alcohol abuse during pregnancy and association with patient characteristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Identification of women with moderate alcohol abuse during pregnancy is difficult. We correlated self-reported alcohol consumption during pregnancy and patient characteristics with objective alcohol indicators measured in fetal meconium.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 557 women singleton births and available psychological tests, obstetric data and meconium samples were included in statistical analysis. Alcohol metabolites (fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG)), were determined from meconium and correlated with patient characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that 21.2% of the 557 participants admitted low-to-moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Of the parameters analyzed from meconium, only EtG showed an association with alcohol history (P < 0.01). This association was inverse in cases with EtG value above 120 ng/g. These values indicate women with most severe alcohol consumption, who obviously denied having consumed alcohol during pregnancy. No other associations between socioeconomic or psychological characteristics and the drinking status (via meconium alcohol metabolites) could be found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women who drink higher doses of ethanol during pregnancy, according to metabolite measures in meconium, might be less likely to admit alcohol consumption. No profile of socioeconomic or psychological characteristics of those women positively tested via meconium could be established.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrß 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Tamme W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Goecke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6-10, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fasching
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Charité, Hittorfstraße 18, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Abdulsallam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bakdash
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Häberle
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany ; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrß 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Faschingbauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrß 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maass
authors.affiliation: Lipidomix GmbH, Berliner Allee 261-269, 13088 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rothe
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitaetsstraß 21-23, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Beckmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Charité, Hittorfstraße 18, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pragst
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 6-10, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8096-3987
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D001724:Birth Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008470:Meconium / Q000737:chemistry*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011581:Psychological Tests; D055815:Young Adult