To test if brief intervention reduces prenatal alcohol use, researchers randomized 304 pregnant women -- all of whom scored positive on the T-ACE* questionnaire and were drinking (or at risk for drinking**) -- to either usual care or a 25-minute brief intervention.

On average, women in both groups drank 20% of days and 1.8 drinks per drinking day prior to pregnancy and 5% of days and 1.6 drinks per drinking day at enrollment.

• Both the intervention and usual care groups decreased drinking, from enrollment to delivery, to 2% of days and 0.5 drinks per day (no significant differences between groups).

• Brief intervention was significantly more effective than was usual care at reducing drinking frequency in women who drank more often at baseline.

• Among these heavier-drinking women, those who had a partner participate in the intervention had greater reductions in drinking frequency than did those without partner involvement.

Although this study did not find an overall effect of brief intervention on prenatal alcohol use, it does highlight that pregnancy can strongly motivate women to change their drinking. Most women substantially decreased their drinking after learning of their pregnancies.

The additional decreases in both groups after enrollment suggest that screening and assessment should be routinely performed. Further, targeted interventions deserve further study given that heavier-drinking women responded best to the intervention, especially when their partners were involved.

* Tolerance, Annoyed, Cut down, Eye-opener

** Any alcohol use in the 3 months before study enrollment while pregnant, consumption of at least 1 drink per day in the 6 months before study enrollment, or drinking during a previous pregnancy

Reference:

Chang G, McNamara TK, Orav EJ, et al. Brief intervention for prenatal alcohol use: a randomized trial. Obstet Gynecol. 2005;105(1):991-998.

Reprinted with permission from Alcohol and Health: Current Evidence.

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