According to a study carried out in maternity hospitals in Rouen, alcohol and tobacco consumption remains high among pregnant women. This, despite significant risks to the fetus.
The consumption by French women of substances harmful to the fetus worries doctors. According to a study carried out in maternity hospitals in Rouen, the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption remains high among pregnant women. These results were recently presented to the French Congress of Psychiatry which was held at the end of last week in Marseille.
1 in 5 women report smoking during pregnancy
Carried out as part of an interregional hospital clinical research program (PHRC) and coordinated by the Rouen University Hospital, this study, relayed by the Medical Press Agency, was carried out in the three maternities in Rouen in August 2010 and August 2011. The researchers offered it to all women who gave birth during these periods. Among the 993 deliveries that took place, 724 mother / child pairs were included in this work.
Result: the participants, aged 30 on average, were 21% to report smoking during their pregnancy, 15% to report drinking (0.4% alcohol intoxication) and 1% to report using cannabis.
For Dr Sandrine Lamy of the CHU de Fort-de-France, main author of the study, “these data suggest that smoking during pregnancy seems to be increasing and that many women still continue to drink alcohol despite the information and prevention. These campaigns must be continued. “And the latter continued by indicating that” the prevalence of pregnant women who consume psychoactive substances remains poorly known in France, most often estimated by extrapolation of data from the general population. “
Anyway, these figures continue to amaze researchers as the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy are important for the fetus.
No risk-free dose
Alcohol is, in fact, a particularly teratogenic substance, that is to say responsible for malformations in the fetus. Each glass therefore potentially exposes the unborn child to a risk, without it being possible to define a dose or a less dangerous period than another.
And the consequences for the 7,500 to 8,000 children concerned each year in France are very variable. Different organs can be affected, the heart or the palate for example, but it is particularly harmful for the brain. The most severe form of fetal alcohol syndrome is 1e cause of non-genetic mental retardation in France. To a lesser extent, children present with attention disorders, difficulty concentrating, short-term memorization or learning to arithmetic.
Finally, there is also a price to pay for society: the care of a child victim of fetal alcohol syndrome costs 1.3 million euros, while his disability was completely avoidable, worried recently in why actor Dr Denis Lamblin, pediatrician in Saint-Denis de la Réunion and president of the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome France (SAF) association.
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