The association between alcohol outlet accessibility and adverse birth outcomes: A retrospective cohort study

• Post by: Moe
• 9:20PM May 24, 2018
• No Comment

A new article, The association between alcohol outlet accessibility and adverse birth outcomes: A retrospective cohort study, led by HEAL Faculty Associate Dr Jamie Seabrook examines the relationship between proximity and density of alcohol outlets and risk for low birth weight (LBW: <2,500 grams) and preterm birth (PTB: <37 weeks gestational age). Alcohol outlet accessibility is positively associated with alcohol consumption, however this relationship has not been thoroughly examined in pregnant women. This is the first Canadian study to investigate the association.

Maternal accessibility to alcohol outlets were specified using a gravity-type measure of accessibility, providing the amount of accessibility a given household has to liquor stores within 30-minutes of their home. All singleton newborns without congenital anomalies that were born between February 2009 and February 2014 at London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, were included in this cohort.

The study found that Women with high accessibility to alcohol outlets are more likely to consume alcohol during pregnancy, but greater alcohol outlet accessibility does not translate into poor birth outcomes.

Along with Dr. Seabrook, the research team included Nicolas Woods, MScFN, who was a graduate student at Brescia University College at the time of the study; Dr. Andrew Clark, Post-Doctoral Fellow & Project Coordinator of the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory at Western University; Dr. Barbra de Vrijer, associate scientist at Children’s Health Research Institute, consultant in LHSC’s Obstetrics & Gynaecology department and associate professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry; Dr. Debbie Penava, associate scientist at Children’s Health Research Institute, consultant in LHSC’s Obstetrics & Gynaecology department and associate professor at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry; and Dr. Jason Gilliland, scientist at Children’s Health Research Institute (a program of Lawson), professor of Geography, Paediatrics and Health Sciences, and director of the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory at Western University.

“The association between alcohol outlet accessibility and adverse birth outcomes: A retrospective cohort study” was published in the Journal of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine.

Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.3233/NPM-181741

Keywords: Alcohol outlets, alcohol use, pregnancy, low birth weight, preterm birth