Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24065783›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2013

Prenatal alcohol exposure and offspring cognition and school performance. A 'Mendelian randomization' natural experiment.

Luisa Zuccolo, Sarah J Lewis, George Davey Smith, Kapil Sayal, Elizabeth S Draper, Robert Fraser, Margaret Barrow, Rosa Alati, Sue Ring, John Macleod and 3 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
14.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  14. Mendelian Randomization: Concepts and Scope.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2022
    Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Can genetics reveal the causes and consequences of educational attainment?Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, (Statistics in Society) · 2020
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Luisa ZuccoloMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, Section of Developmental Psychiatry, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, School of Medicine, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, Clinical Genetics, University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester, UK, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Sarah J Lewis
George Davey Smith
Kapil Sayal
Elizabeth S Draper
Robert Fraser
Margaret Barrow
Rosa Alati
Sue Ring
John Macleod
Jean Golding
Jon Heron
Ron Gray
University of Queensland · AUUniversity of Bristol · GBUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0600705Medical Research Council G0902144Medical Research Council G9815508Medical Research Council MC_UU_12013/1Wellcome Trust 083506Wellcome Trust WT092731
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is substantial debate as to whether moderate alcohol use during pregnancy could have subtle but important effects on offspring, by impairing later cognitive function and thus school performance. The authors aimed to investigate the unconfounded effect of moderately increased prenatal alcohol exposure on cognitive/educational performance.

methodsWe used mother-offspring pairs participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and performed both conventional observational analyses and Mendelian randomization using an ADH1B variant (rs1229984) associated with reduced alcohol consumption. Women of White European origin with genotype and self-reported prenatal alcohol consumption, whose offspring's IQ score had been assessed in clinic (N=4061 pairs) or Key Stage 2 (KS2) academic achievement score was available through linkage to the National Pupil Database (N=6268), contributed to the analyses.

resultsWomen reporting moderate drinking before and during early pregnancy were relatively affluent compared with women reporting lighter drinking, and their children had higher KS2 and IQ scores. In contrast, children whose mothers' genotype predisposes to lower consumption or abstinence during early pregnancy had higher KS2 scores (mean difference +1.7, 95% confidence interval +0.4, +3.0) than children of mothers whose genotype predisposed to heavier drinking, after adjustment for population stratification.

conclusionsBetter offspring cognitive/educational outcomes observed in association with prenatal alcohol exposure presumably reflected residual confounding by factors associated with social position and maternal education. The unconfounded Mendelian randomization estimates suggest a small but potentially important detrimental effect of small increases in prenatal alcohol exposure, at least on educational outcomes.

Indexed as

AchievementAdultAlcohol DehydrogenaseAlcohol DrinkingCausalityCentral Nervous System DepressantsChildCognitionCohort StudiesEducational MeasurementEnglandEthanolFemaleGenotypeHumansIntelligence TestsADH1B protein, humanAlcohol DehydrogenaseCentral Nervous System DepressantsEthanolAlcohol dehydrogenasecausalitycognitionconfounding factorseducational measurementethanolMendelian randomization analysispregnancy

Identifiers

PMID24065783
PMCPMC3807618
OpenAlexW2137271830

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.