Maternal alcohol consumption, birth weight, and minor physical anomalies.

The effect of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy upon neonatal outcome was examined in 278 mother-infant dyads. Accounts of the mother's drug use as well as information about confounding factors were obtained by personal interviews on two occasions during pregnancy and again after delivery. The infants were examined by a standardized procedure for the presence of minor physical anomalies. Alcohol, in moderate amounts, was found to be unrelated to infant birth weight, birth length, or head circumference. Minor physical anomalies associated with fetal alcohol syndrome were no more common in infants exposed to heavy amounts of alcohol in the first trimester than in nonexposed infants. A weak but significant negative correlation between alcohol consumption and gestational age was not accounted for by covariance with emotional stress, parity, socioeconomic status, mother's age, or use of other drugs.