Call for Govt action as study reveals women drinking while pregnant

Call for Govt action as study reveals women drinking while pregnant

Alarming figures showing almost a quarter of pregnant Kiwi women continue to drink alcohol during their first three months of pregnancy have prompted calls for the Government to take action. A new study, published in today’s New Zealand Medical Journal, found 23 per cent of women who took part in the Growing Up in New Zealand study continued to drink in their first trimester — when the risk of damage to nerve tissue was the highest — despite knowing they were pregnant. Thirteen per cent continued drinking after the first three months.

The “staggering” figures prompted experts to again call for the Government to take action to reduce the harm caused by alcohol to all Kiwis. In an opinion piece, also in today’s Medical Journal, University of Otago professors Doug Sellman and Jennie Connor compared the harm caused during pregnancy to the Zika virus and questioned why the response was not the same.

Up to 3000 New Zealand children are born every year with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The Ministry of Health said there was no safe level of alcohol consumption while pregnant.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Care Action Network chairwoman Claire Gyde said the results of the study were “staggeringly high”.

“To knowingly have a drink and know that you’re pregnant is just Russian roulette really. It causes permanent brain damage.”

Symptoms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder included intellectual disabilities, being impulsive and easily distracted, poor memory and socially inappropriate behaviour.

Gyde said those issues often led to trouble at school and with the law, addiction issues and employment issues.

Alcohol Healthwatch fetal alcohol spectrum disorder project coordinator Christine Rogan said while the data used in the study was eight years old, other figures suggested the problem was getting worse.

More recent figures showed more women were drinking and the number binge drinking was also increasing.

“We know that pre-pregnancy drinking is quite predictive of what happens after conception.”

Rogan said the Government needed to be taking steps to increase awareness as well as regulating the marketing of alcohol and increasing the price.

One of the study authors, Auckland University Centre for Addiction Research senior lecturer Dr David Newcombe, agreed Government involvement was needed.

“We have very cheap alcohol. It’s very accessible. Something of those issues need to be addressed.”