Objective To examine the effects of binge alcohol consumption during early pregnancy, including the number of binge episodes and the timing of binge drinking, on general intelligence in 5-year-old children.Design Follow-up study. Setting Neuropsychological testing in four Danish cities 2003-2008.Population A cohort of 1617 women and their children sampled from the Danish National Birth Cohort.Methods Participants were sampled on the basis of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. At 5 years of age the children were tested with six subtests from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence -Revised (WPPSI-R). Parental education, maternal IQ, prenatal maternal smoking, the child's age at testing, the gender of the child, and tester were considered core confounding factors, whereas the full model also controlled for prenatal maternal average alcohol intake, maternal age, maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), parity, home environment, postnatal parental smoking, health status, and indicators for hearing and vision impairment.Main outcome measure WPPSI-R.Results There were no systematic or significant differences in general intelligence between children of mothers reporting binge drinking and children of mothers with no binge episodes, except that binge drinking in gestational weeks 1-2 significantly reduced the risk of low, full-scale IQ (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.31-0.96) when adjusted for core confounding factors. The results were otherwise not statistically significantly related to the number of binge episodes (with a maximum of 12) and timing of binge drinking.Conclusions We found no systematic association between binge drinking during early pregnancy and child intelligence. However, binge drinking reduced the risk of low, full-scale IQ in gestational weeks 1-2. This finding may be explained by residual confounding.

Objective To examine the effects of low to moderate maternal alcohol consumption during early pregnancy on children's intelligence (IQ) at age 5 years.Design Prospective follow-up study.Setting Neuropsychological testing in four Danish cities 2003-2008. Population A cohort of 1628 women and their children sampled from the Danish National Birth Cohort.Methods Participants were sampled based on maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. At 5 years of age, children were tested with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). Parental education, maternal IQ, maternal smoking in pregnancy, the child's age at testing, gender, and tester were considered core confounding factors, whereas the full model also controlled for maternal binge drinking, age, BMI, parity, home environment, postnatal smoking in the home, health status, and indicators for hearing and vision impairments.Main outcome measures The WPPSI-R.Results No differences in test performance were observed between children whose mothers reported consuming between one and four or between five and eight drinks per week at some point during pregnancy, compared with children of mothers who abstained. For women who reported consuming nine or more drinks per week no differences were observed for mean differences; however, the risks of low full-scale IQ (OR 4.6; 95% CI 1.2-18.2) and low verbal IQ (OR 5.9; 95% CI 1.4-24.9) scores, but not low performance IQ score, were increased.Conclusions Maternal consumption of low to moderate quantities of alcohol during pregnancy was not associated with the mean IQ score of preschool children. Despite these findings, acceptable levels of alcohol use during pregnancy have not yet been established, and conservative advice for women continues to be to avoid alcohol use during pregnancy.

Objective To assess urinary, sexual, and bowel function before and after laparoscopic bowel resection for rectosigmoid endometriosis.Design Prospectively collected data regarding the function of the pelvic organs.Setting Tertiary endometriosis referral unit, Aarhus University Hospital.Sample A cohort of 128 patients who underwent laparoscopic bowel resection for endometriosis.Methods The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire (ICIQ), Sexual Function-Vaginal Changes Questionnaire (SVQ), and the Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS) questionnaire were answered before and after surgery. Non-invasive urodynamic testing was performed.Main outcome measures Pre-and postoperative function of the pelvic organs was compared, and risk factors for improved/ impaired function were identified.Results A total of 96.1% of the women completed the 1-year follow-up. A significant decrease (P = 0.002) in bladder filling problems (F-score) was observed 1 year after surgery, primarily caused by a significant decrease in bladder pain (P = 0.0001). No change for urodynamic parameters was observed. A significant increase in overall sexual satisfaction (P = 0.0001) and decrease in worries about sexual life (P = 0.001) was seen 1 year after surgery. Frequency of defecation was significantly increased 1 year after surgery (P = 0.0001), but the overall bowel function measured by LARS score was unchanged. Patients with anastomotic leakage had a significantly higher risk (odds ratio, OR 5.40; P = 0.002) of increased incontinence problems (I-score) 1 year after surgery.Conclusion A significant and clinically relevant improvement in urinary and sexual function 1 year after laparoscopic bowel resection for endometriosis was found. Except for anastomotic leakage, this could be observed independent of any patient-or treatment-related factor. Apprehension about impairment of urinary and sexual function should not be a contraindication for bowel resection in endometriosis patients.Keywords Bowel, endometriosis, laparoscopy, LARS score, organ function, SVQ.Tweetable abstract Rectal resection for endometriosis does not impair urinary and sexual function 1 year after surgery.

Study objective-To assess the agreement between four diVerent measures of alcohol intake in pregnancy. Design and setting-Danish speaking pregnant women referred to the Midwife Centre in Aarhus, Denmark, for routine antenatal care were contacted at their first visit at approximately 15-16 weeks gestation from October to December 1998. The women were interviewed about current average alcohol intake and intake within the previous week, and subsequently filled in a two week diary on alcohol intake. When booking for delivery at the end of the first trimester the women were also asked to complete a questionnaire including a one item question on current average alcohol intake. Participants-Participants were 441 pregnant women. Main results-Per cent agreement ± 1 category ranged between 73 and 82. Mean (SD) intake ranged between 1.09 (1.35) drinks/week for diaries, and 0.69 (0.85) for questionnaires. Mean diVerences between methods were all close to zero. Three of the four measures yielded comparable distributions of average alcohol intake, but reports of intake within the past seven days seemed to be an inappropriate measure of average intake, yielding three times as many abstainers as expected when combining the methods. Conclusions-When assessing the distribution of alcohol intake in pregnancy or when studying adverse pregnancy outcomes that are probably caused mainly by sustained exposure it seems that for pregnant women with low to moderate alcohol intake diaries or an average measure from interviews or a simple one item questionnaire may be applied. A measure of intake for the previous week seems to be a relevant measure only when studying adverse pregnancy outcomes that are most probably caused by binge-like exposure. (J Epidemiol Community Health 2001;55:738-745)

Please cite this paper as: SkogerbøÅ, Kesmodel U, Wimberley T, Støvring H, Bertrand J, Landrø N, Mortensen E. The effects of low to moderate alcohol consumption and binge drinking in early pregnancy on executive function in 5‐year‐old children. BJOG 2012;119:1201–1210. Objective  To examine the effects of low to moderate maternal alcohol consumption and binge drinking in early pregnancy on children’s executive functions at the age of 5 years. Design  Follow‐up study. Setting  Neuropsychological testing in four Danish cities 2003–2008. Population  A cohort of 1628 women and their children sampled from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Methods  Participants were sampled based on maternal alcohol drinking patterns during early pregnancy. When the children were 5 years old, the parent and teacher forms of the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were completed by the mothers and a preschool teacher. Parental education, maternal IQ, prenatal maternal smoking, the child’s age at testing, and the child’s gender were considered core confounding factors. The full model also included maternal binge drinking or low to moderate alcohol consumption, maternal age, parity, maternal marital status, family home environment, postnatal parental smoking, pre‐pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI), and the health status of the child. Main outcome measures  The BRIEF parent and teacher forms. Results  Adjusted for all potential confounding factors, no statistically significant associations between maternal low to moderate average weekly consumption and BRIEF index scores were observed. In adjusted analyses, binge drinking in gestational week 9 or later was significantly associated with elevated Behavioural Regulation Index parent scores (OR 2.04, 95% CI 0.33–3.76), and with the risk of high scores on the Metacognitive Index assessed by the teacher (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.01–4.23). Conclusions  This study did not observe significant effects of low to moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy on executive functioning at the age of 5 years. Furthermore, only weak and no consistent associations between maternal binge drinking and executive functions were observed.