MATERNAL ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION AND SPONTANEOUS-ABORTION

This review examines the relationship between maternal alcohol consump tion during pregnancy and spontaneous abortions. Although very high sp ontaneous abortion rates have been reported for alcoholic women, it is still uncertain if this is due to the direct effects of alcohol or th e indirect effects of alcoholism-related disorders such as cirrhosis. The higher rates of spontaneous abortion among alcoholics may also be due to their higher pregnancy rates. Studies in animals indicate that blood alcohol levels >200 mg/dl can directly precipitate spontaneous a bortion. The association between lower levels of maternal alcohol cons umption and spontaneous abortion is much less clear. There is a defini te effect of study site in these latter studies: those conducted in No rth America nearly always report statistically significant association s; those conducted in Europe or Australia nearly always report no sign ificant associations. The reason for this difference is not related to differences in alcohol consumption. Possible explanations for this ge ographical difference include difference in the socioeconomic status o f the women being studied and artefacts associated with the designs us ed to study these relationships.