CDC Finds 15% of Pregnant Women Drank From 2021 to 2024
Updated
Updated · STAT · Jun 11
CDC Finds 15% of Pregnant Women Drank From 2021 to 2024
2 articles · Updated · STAT · Jun 11
Summary
About 15% of adult pregnant women reported drinking in the prior 30 days during 2021-2024, up from 13.5% in 2018-2020, according to new CDC survey data.
The report links higher-risk drinking to mental distress and marital status: unmarried pregnant women and those with frequent mental distress were more than twice as likely to report binge or heavy drinking.
CDC said no amount of alcohol has proved safe during pregnancy, warning that ethanol can disrupt fetal development and contribute to birth defects and intellectual disability.
The findings come with caveats: survey responses may understate drinking, some women may have consumed alcohol before knowing they were pregnant, and the data do not show trimester timing.
A slight 2024 decline seen in raw CDC data was not broken out in the agency's multi-year estimates, leaving unclear whether pregnancy drinking has started to ease after pandemic-era increases.
As drinking during pregnancy rises, why are doctors hesitant to offer treatments that could save lives?
If higher alcohol taxes could prevent birth defects, what is stopping this proven public health policy from being enacted?
Are we creating new risks by continuing to exclude pregnant women from vital medical research?
Alcohol Use in Pregnancy on the Rise: Missing Data, COVID-19 Effects, and the Need for Systemic Change
Overview
This report highlights the growing concern over alcohol use during pregnancy in the United States, emphasizing that recent federal data from 2021-2024 is largely unavailable due to tracking impediments and the lack of a 2023 data release. As a result, researchers must rely on fragmented state-level information, making it difficult to provide a complete national picture or analyze recent trends. The report underscores the urgent need for improved data collection, consistent screening, and stronger public health policies to address the risks of prenatal alcohol exposure and support affected families.