Drinking by Men or Women Affects Miscarriage Risk

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=328

Charnicia E. Huggins, "Drinking by Men or Women Affects Miscarriage
Risk", Reuters, October 18, 2004,
Link: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=6530972

Women who are thinking about becoming pregnant are usually advised to
stay away from alcoholic beverages. Now, new research suggests that
their partners should do the same.

In a Danish study, alcohol drinking by men or women during the
conception period increased the likelihood of a miscarriage.

Studies in animals have suggested that high doses of alcohol given to
males and females around the time of conception or early in the
pregnancy increase fetal death, but the association has been less
clear in humans.

Dr. Tine Brink Henriksen, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and
colleagues followed 430 couples who were attempting a first-time
pregnancy. The study participants were all 20 to 35 years old.

A total of 186 pregnancies occurred during the study period, of which
55 ended in spontaneous abortion and 131 resulted in childbirth, the
investigators report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Women who reported consuming 10 or more drinks per week at the time of
conception were nearly three times more likely to experience a
miscarriage than those who had not consumed any wine, spirits, or beer
at the time of conception.

When men consumed 10 or more weekly drinks at the time of conception,
their partners' risk of spontaneous abortion was up to five times
greater than it was for women whose male partners did not drink, the
report indicates.

The reason for the association between drinking among males and
spontaneous abortion is not fully understood. However, studies have
shown that alcohol consumption is associated with chromosomal
abnormalities in sperm cells, and many aborted fetuses are known to
have chromosomal abnormalities.

What's more, the concentration of alcohol in semen -- where its
presence can be detected relatively quickly after it is ingested -- is
similar to its concentration in the blood, the researchers note.

"In conclusion, we found that both male and female alcohol intakes
during the week of conception increased the risk of spontaneous
abortion," Henriksen and colleagues write.

Although the study found that 10 or more drinks was associated with
spontaneous abortions, Dr. George Benjamin, executive director of the
American Public Health Association says he does not want women
thinking they can safely consume up to nine drinks per week. On the
other hand, Benjamin, who was not involved with the study, said the
findings can be used to reassure women who, for example, consumed
alcohol at a dinner party two weeks before finding out they were
pregnant.

"If I was their doctor," he told Reuters Health, "I could comfort them
more and advise them more about the outcome of their pregnancy."

Still, "I did not say it (alcohol drinking) was safe," Benjamin said.
He added that since it is known that alcohol consumption can
contribute to birth defects, prematurity, low birthweight, and fetal
alcohol syndrome, prevention of these conditions is very important.

"If we can get people to stop drinking during pregnancy," he said, it
would "impact on those birth defects."

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, October 1, 2004.

Roman Bystrianyk wrote:

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.p...st_item&id=328

Charnicia E. Huggins, "Drinking by Men or Women Affects Miscarriage
Risk", Reuters, October 18, 2004,
Link: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=6530972


[...]

When men consumed 10 or more weekly drinks at the time of conception,
their partners' risk of spontaneous abortion was up to five times
greater than it was for women whose male partners did not drink, the
report indicates.

Presumably they controlled for the alcohol intake of the women?
Silly science reporting...

Emily