Medical texts lack direct messages on alcohol's threat to pregnancy.

2002 AUG 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite two decades of consistent warnings from public health authorities that pregnant women should not drink alcoholic beverages, the vast majority of widely used medical textbooks fail to communicate this message unequivocally, a new study reveals.

Many texts, including those published recently, contradict these public health guidelines, researchers report in the August 2002 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Medical texts are used for training as well as for reference," observed senior author Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, from Virginia Commonwealth University. "In turn, training influences physician behavior. Therefore, it is concerning that many distinguished texts fail to provide clear and consistent recommendations about drinking in pregnancy."

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption by pregnant women is one of the leading preventable causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities, Nettleman explained. Yet when she and her colleague, Karen Q. Loop, reviewed 81 clinical obstetric texts in current use, they found that only 14 contain a consistent recommendation that pregnant women should not drink alcohol. Among the 29 texts published since 1991, only seven consistently recommend abstinence.

More than half of the 81 texts, Nettleman and Loop found, contain at least one statement condoning drinking. Although none of the 29 texts published since 1991 contains a consistent message that drinking is permissible during pregnancy, 15 carry a mixed message, recommending abstinence in one place and stating elsewhere that some level of drinking is ...