Effects of Alcohol on Expectant Mothers

Effects of Alcohol on Expectant Mothers

Pre-clinical, along with clinical research, have established that excessive consumption of alcohol has harmful effects in short and the long term towards the physical along with psychological health. These effects are greatly aggravated in occasions when alcohol consumption takes place during pregnancy, because it may tamper with the process of fetus development leading to permanent morphological, cognitive, neurobehavioral, physiological along with neurobiological defects (Maguire et al., 2017). The harmful effects of consumption of alcohol in the time of pregnancy on the development of the unborn baby can extend over the effects inside the womb since the care for the expectant mother could get tampered. The quality of care provided for the expectant mothers has prolonged ramifications towards the psychological and physical health of the new infants and children.

The expression of the pregnancy demeanor is mainly a consequence of different activities of interlinked areas of the brain, which include the anterior hypothalamus, olfactory bulb, and the amygdala. Even though the hippocampus is not amongst the crucial part of the pregnancy behavior system, injuries to the hippocampus can disturb maternal care, especially pup retrieval. Besides, the hippocampus is particularly sensitive to the consumption of alcohol in the long run, and deterioration of the hippocampus can attribute to cognitive defects along with depression resulting from alcoholism (Madigan et al., 2017). Motherhood and pregnancy significantly affect the structure and function of the hippocampus.

Most of the expectant mothers that abuse drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, along with other drugs, are placed at the nexus of public health and criminal justice. The indulgence of the expectant mothers in substance abuse is a public concern since they endanger the unborn baby and also detrimental to their health, as healthcare professionals’ main goal is to improve infant and maternal wellbeing. In the past thirty years, there have been tremendous changes, especially in antepartum substance utilization it has become an issue of criminal justice since the antenatal protection movement instigated the extensive application of criminal penalties for mothers who are reckless. Expectant mothers indulging in substance abuse, particularly women lower social and economic standards, along with women of color, are under high surveillance, and they are likely to be arrested, convicted, or have their children taken away from them (Stone, 2015). Matters relating to substance abuse exposure the pre-born babies have attributed to the establishment of new laws to prosecute and convict the expectant mothers who violate the laws in abusing drugs during their pregnancy.

According to the statistics in the United States, forty percent constitute of the women with a lifelong substance abuse disorder, and twenty-six percent accounts for the women that meet the conditions for both indulgences in alcohol along with substance abuse disorder in the course of the preceding twelve months.  Most women are at an increased possibility of indulging in drug abuse between their reproductive ages between eighteen to forty-four years and more likely between eighteen years through twenty-nine years (Workman et al., 2015). Consequently, according to the statistic’s expectant mothers or women likely to get pregnant are at an increased likelihood of indulging in substance abuse.

There is only a limited set of recommended therapies in the management of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, which include behavioral counseling. Brief approaches, especially those that employ motivational interviewing, proved to lower antenatal consumption of alcohol. A latest comparative trial using a telephone-based short approach reveals the intervention to be capable of attaining comparable outcomes to the in-person approach intervention of reducing antenatal dinking. Other different strategies in mitigating antepartum alcohol consumption have lately been outlined, and they include counseling by obstetricians, preliminary assessment by non-healthcare public workers, along with educational efforts to create awareness to the expectant mothers.

The alternative intervention in the management of antenatal alcohol consumption is through medical therapy. The drugs include Acamprosate, Naltrexone, and Disulfiram. Nonetheless, there are no previous studies of the safety and efficacy of the utilization of Naltrexone in pregnant mothers with Alcohol Use Disorders. The drug is classified under category C, which means research and experiments done on animals have shown harmful effects on the fetus. However, there are no sufficient studies to back up the research on reproductive effects on human beings (Forray, 2016).  Disulfiram is the second drug that also falls under category C. However, some studies affirm consumption on the drug in the first trimester during pregnancy could lead to congenital malformations. Acamprosate is the third drug used in the management of Alcohol Use Disorder in pregnant women. The drug also falls in category C, there are teratogenic effects on the fetus in animals’ studies, but there are no studies to back this information on the reproductive effects in human beings.

Excessive consumption of alcohol has been linked with a series of adverse birth outcomes such as increased chances of miscarriage, low birth weight, preterm delivery, stillbirth and infant mortality, congenital abnormalities along with reduced gestational age. The proof for the low to moderate antenatal alcohol consumption has somehow been unconvincing or portrayed no increased chances of negative birth outcomes (Galea et al., 2015).  Antenatal alcohol consumption has the utmost antenatal health implication as to its connection with the formation of negative neurodevelopmental outcomes along with prenatal alcohol spectrum disorders.

References

Forray, A. (2016). Substance use during pregnancy. F1000Research, 5.

Madigan, S., Wade, M., Plamondon, A., Maguire, J. L., & Jenkins, J. M. (2017). Maternal adverse childhood experience and infant health: biomedical and psychosocial risks as intermediary mechanisms. The Journal of Pediatrics, 187, 282-289.

Stone, R. (2015). Pregnant women and substance use: fear, stigma, and barriers to care. Health & Justice, 3(1), 2.

Workman, J. L., Raineki, C., Weinberg, J., & Galea, L. A. (2015). Alcohol and pregnancy: effects on maternal care, HPA axis function, and hippocampal neurogenesis in adult females. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 57, 37-50.