Women who consume even one alcoholic drink weekly while pregnant are more likely to have children with behavioral problems than women who abstain, Reuters Health reported Dec. 3.

Researchers reviewed data from the Minnesota Twins Family Study, focusing on 1,252 17-year-old participants and their parents, and found that 31 percent of children whose mothers reported drinking at least one drink per week while pregnant were diagnosed with conduct disorders as teenagers, compared to 21 percent among teens whose mothers did not drink during pregnancy.

The study authors also found that 44 percent of mothers diagnosed with alcoholism who drank during pregnancy had children with conduct disorders, more than twice the rate among alcoholic mothers who abstained while pregnant.

Mothers who drank during pregnancy (13 percent) were also more likely to smoke, but when the researchers controlled for smoking and other behaviors, they found that prenatal alcohol exposure was independently linked to higher prevalence of behavioral problems such as shoplifting, aggression towards animals and people, and arson.

"If women stop drinking during pregnancy, they can save themselves a lot of heartache later," said study author Elizabeth Disney of Chase Braxton Health Services in Baltimore, Md. "Being the parent of a child with conduct disorder is really frustrating."

The findings were published in the Dec. 6, 2008 issue of the journal Pediatrics.