Of particular concern regarding drinking among women is alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Any alcohol drinking during pregnancy can be unsafe (Vall et al. 2015). In particular, binge drinking and heavy drinking during pregnancy are harmful to the fetus and have been related to increased risk for fetal alcohol syndrome (Caetano et al. 2006; Vall et al. 2015). In the NESARC Wave 1 sample, about one-third of pregnant women reported drinking during the last year (Caetano et al. 2006). In the combined NSDUH data from 2012 and 2013, the percentage of pregnant women who reported binge drinking and heavy drinking was 2.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively (SAMHSA 2014).
