CLAHRC West project contributes to NIHR Better Beginnings themed review

28 February 2017

The CLAHRC West project looking at the effects of alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy has been included in the National Institute of Health Research’s Better Beginnings (PDF) themed review.

Better Beginnings brings together NIHR research into health before, during and after pregnancy. It includes research on maintaining a healthy diet and weight, breastfeeding and mental health as well as smoking cessation, alcohol and recreational drug use, and domestic violence.

It features:

  • 46 published studies
  • 28 ongoing studies or interim results
  • Questions for clinicians, commissioners, public health professionals and others

The CLAHRC West project aims to find out what is known about the effects of alcohol consumption on pregnancy, including complications, delivery outcomes and foetal alcohol syndrome. It also looks at the existing guidelines on alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the evidence they were based on. A focus for the project is identifying practical and meaningful outcomes of alcohol toxicity during pregnancy.

The project is referred to in the ‘Alcohol and drug’ section on page 28 of the review.