Email this article 
Hide
Show all
Original Research
Associations of maternal alcohol and non-prescribed substance use with early child growth
Submitted: 15 February 2025 | Published: 30 June 2025
About the author(s)
Yukiko Washio, Women’s Global Health Imperative, RTI International, Media, Pennsylvania Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesZugui Zhang, iREACH, Christiana Care, Newark, Delaware, United States
Mona Lisa Baishya, College of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Marilyn T. Lake, SAMRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Bronwyn Myers, enAble Institute, Curtin University, Bentley, Australia
Nadia Hoffman, SAMRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Elizabeth Goddard, SAMRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Heather J. Zar, SAMRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Dan J. Stein, SAMRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Petal Petersen Williams, Mental Health, Alcohol, Substance Use and Tobacco Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council Institute for Life Course Health Research, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Background: Perinatal alcohol and non-prescribed substance use may be detrimental to foetal and infant growth.
Aim: This observational study investigated how combined and continued alcohol and non-prescribed substance use throughout antenatal and 1-year postnatal periods were associated with adverse child length and weight outcomes up to 24 months.
Setting: Data from participants (n = 1098) with information on alcohol and non-prescribed substance use and infant and child outcomes, were drawn from a prospective birth cohort in the Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS), conducted in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Methods: Generalised estimating equations were conducted on standardised child length and weight outcomes at 12, 18 and 24 months.
Results: Non-prescribed substances consisted mostly of tobacco use (77%). Child length and weight were significantly lower in those exposed to the combined use of alcohol and substances compared to no-use and all other use groups (p < 0.001), as confirmed by multivariable analyses. Child length and weight were also significantly lower in those exposed to alcohol and/or substance use throughout the antenatal and 1-year postnatal periods, as confirmed by multivariable analyses.
Conclusion: Interventions to address the potential long-term adverse effects of combined alcohol and substance use particularly tobacco use, as well as continuous use throughout antenatal and early postnatal periods on subsequent child growth, are needed.
Contribution: This study has contributed to the field by showing that combined and continued use of alcohol and other substances during pregnancy and postpartum is associated with impaired early child growth.
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goal
Metrics
Total abstract views: 261Total article views: 171