Pregnant Women and Drinking: New Statistics
A recent report from SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), examines how many women report alcohol use during pregnancy, by age.
The report, Alcohol Use among Pregnant Women and Recent Mothers: 2002 to 2007, is compiled from data gathered from female respondents age 15 to 44. NSDUH asks the respondents whether they are currently pregnant, and it also asks people age 12 or older to report on their alcohol use during the month prior to the survey.
The report compares women who were:
- Pregnant at the time of the survey
- Recent mothers (women who were not pregnant at the time of the survey but who gave birth during the prior 12 months)
- Nonpregnant women (women who were not pregnant at the time of the interview and did not have a biological child under 1 year old in the household).
Past-month alcohol use among pregnant and nonpregnant women and recent mothers age 15 to 44 did not change significantly between 2002 to 2003 and 2006 to 2007.
Combined 2006 and 2007 data indicate that the rate of past-month alcohol use among women age 15 to 44 was lower for those who were pregnant than for recent mothers (11.6 percent vs. 42.1 percent). The recent mothers in turn had a lower rate than those who were neither pregnant nor recent mothers (54 percent).
The full report is available for free download on SAMHSA’s Web site at www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/pregnantAlc/pregnantAlc.cfm.
SAMHSA recently released data on substance use treatment among women of childrearing age. Findings included the following:
- Combined data from 2004 to 2006 indicated that an annual average of 6.3 million women age 18 to 49 (9.4 percent) needed treatment for a substance use problem.
- One in ten (10.4 percent) of the women age 18 to 49 who needed treatment in the past year received treatment at a specialty treatment facility.
The report, Substance Use Treatment among Women of Childrearing Age, is available for free download on SAMHSA’s Web site at www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/womenTX/womenTX.cfm.