The majority of Irish women who become pregnant drink alcohol during the first 15 weeks of their pregnancy, a major new Irish study has found.

This figure is much higher when compared with women in Australia and New Zealand.

Researchers in University College Cork (UCC) looked at more than 5,600 women in Ireland, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. All of the participants were healthy women who had given birth between November 2004 and January 2011 in Cork, London, Leeds, Manchester, Adelaide and Auckland.

The women were interviewed when 15 weeks pregnant to determine their alcohol intake during the early stage of their pregnancy. Alcohol intake was classified as occasional (one to two units per week), low (three to seven units per week), moderate (eight to 14 units per week) and heavy (more than 14 units per week).

Binge drinking was defined as six or more alcohol units in one session.

The study found that 80% of Irish women had consumed alcohol in the first 15 weeks of their pregnancy. This compared with 65% in the UK, 53% in New Zealand and 38% in Australia.

Among the Irish women who had consumed alcohol, one in five admitted to drinking moderate to heavy amounts. Meanwhile almost one in three admitted to at least two binge drinking sessions during their first 15 weeks of pregnancy, compared to just 4% of women in New Zealand.

However, the researchers found that alcohol consumption in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy did not appear to increase the risk of having a smaller than average baby, a baby with a low birth weight, pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure) or a premature birth.

Despite this however, they warned that risks may still remain if alcohol is consumed during pregnancy.

"Although the research indicates that alcohol consumption in early pregnancy does not appear to adversely affect conditions like reduced birth weight or spontaneous preterm birth, it is really important to state that this study did not evaluate the association between alcohol consumption in pregnancy and long-term neurocognitive outcomes of children exposed as foetuses to alcohol," explained the study's senior author, Prof Louise Kenny, of UCC and Cork University Maternity Hospital.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

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