Alcohol consumption among pregnant and non-pregnant women in Russia: evidence for prevention

Background. Russia has one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world and increasingly hazardous drinking inyoung women. Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) in children. Data on women's alcohol consumption and risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies necessary for developing prevention of FASD in Russia are limited. Aims: to estimate the prevalence of alcohol use and hazardous drinking and risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancies in women of childbearing age. Materials and methods. Women were recruited at public women's clinics in two regions in Russia. Women of childbearing age (n = 648) completed a face-to-face structured interview which assessed alcohol consumption and contraception use. Results. Among non-pregnant women, 89 % reported consuming alcohol and 65 % reported binge drinking in the last three months; 70 % of women in Nizhny Novgorod Region and 44 % in Saint-Petersburg may become pregnant, including 12 % in Nizhny Novgorod Region and 9 % in Saint-Petersburg who were trying to conceive. These women consumed alcohol at similar rates and amounts as women who were not at-risk for pregnancy. Among currently non-pregnant women, 32 % in Saint-Petersburg and 54 % in Nizhny Novgorod Region reported not using contraception consistently and at-risk drinking; therefore, they were at risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancy. After pregnancy identification: 20 % reported continued drinking. Significant differences in drinking and risk for alcohol-exposed pregnancy between women in Saint-Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod Region were identified. Conclusions. Although the majority of Russian women decrease alcohol consumption after pregnancy identification, high levels of drinking were reported around conceptions and prior to pregnancy identification.

fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, women, alcohol drinking, pregnancy, reproductive health, preventive medicine

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