Evidence of Detrimental Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Offspring Birthweight and Neurodevelopment from a Systematic Review of Quasi-Experimental Studies
Research article
Abstract
Background
Systematic reviews of prenatal alcohol exposure effects generally only include conventional observational studies. However, estimates from such studies are prone to confounding and other biases.
Objectives
To systematically review the evidence on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational designs using alternative analytical approaches to improve causal inference.
Search strategy
Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PsychINFO from inception to 21 June 2018. Manual searches of reference lists of retrieved papers.
Selection criteria
RCTs of interventions to stop/reduce alcohol use in pregnancy and observational studies using alternative analytical methods (quasi-experimental studies e.g. Mendelian randomization and natural experiments, negative control comparisons) to determine the causal effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on pregnancy and longer-term offspring outcomes in human studies.
Data collection and analysis
One reviewer extracted data and another checked extracted data. Risk of bias was assessed using customized risk of bias tools. A narrative synthesis of findings was carried out and a meta-analysis for one outcome.
Main results
Twenty-three studies were included, representing five types of study design, including 1 RCT, 9 Mendelian randomization and 7 natural experiment studies, and reporting on over 30 outcomes. One study design–outcome combination included enough independent results to meta-analyse. Based on evidence from several studies, we found a likely causal detrimental role of prenatal alcohol exposure on cognitive outcomes, and weaker evidence for a role in low birthweight.
Conclusion
None of the included studies was judged to be at low risk of bias in all domains, results should therefore be interpreted with caution.