CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF CAFFEINATED BEVERAGES AND PRETERM DELIVERY

Although many women reduce their caffeine consumption once they know t hey are pregnant, 70-80% of pregnant women still consume caffeine. To evaluate the relation between caffeine consumption and preterm deliver y, a Case-control study was conducted to identify all preterm (<37 wee ks gestation) infants born to women in selected North Carolina countie s from September 1988 through April 1991. Randomly selected full-term, normal-weight livebirths (matched by race and hospital) served as con trols. The study population consisted of 408 cases and 490 controls. T elephone interviews with participants assessed the consumption of caff einated coffee, tea, cola soft drinks, and noncola caffeinated soft dr inks, with caffeine consumption measured by the number of daily servin gs of each beverage and the total milligrams of caffeine. Third-trimes ter caffeine consumption from all beverages combined showed a nonsigni ficant inverse association with preterm delivery. Both first- and seco nd-trimester consumption of 1-150 mg/day were associated with a modest ly increased risk of preterm delivery, while no association was found at higher consumption levels. Overall, these results do not support an association between caffeinated beverage consumption and preterm deli very, as is true in most previous studies.