July 30, 2026
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More than 1 in 7 women reported drinking during pregnancy in a 2023-2024 survey sponsored by the CDC. That's up from fewer than 1 in 10 in 2011-2012.
Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities say that any amount of alcohol is unsafe during pregnancy, new research suggests that more pregnant women are drinking in recent years.
The study, published Monday in JAMA, used data from nearly 34,000 women who participated in an annual CDC-sponsored health surveillance survey about their drinking patterns. More than 1 in 7 women reported drinking during pregnancy in the 2023-2024 survey, up from fewer than 1 in 10 in 2011-2012.
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Prenatal alcohol exposure is linked to a variety of health complications for mothers and infants, including increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth. Infants exposed to alcohol in utero also are at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, making them more likely to have low birthweight, vision and hearing problems, and long-term behavioral and learning issues, according to the CDC.
"When we adjusted for long-term trends using statistical models, we found that each successive two-year period was associated with higher odds of current alcohol use, binge drinking, and heavy drinking during the past month," said Emilie Bruzelius, an epidemiologist at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and one of the study's authors. "These findings indicate statistically significant increases across the study period."
The percentage of pregnant women who reported that they currently drank spiked to 15% from 2021 to 2022, and then dropped slightly to 14.5% from 2023 to 2024. But that's still much higher than the 9% from 2011 to 2012.
"While no amount of alcohol has been established as safe during pregnancy, these increases across all patterns of drinking are concerning," Dr. Silvia Martins, professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School and the study's senior author, said in a news release.
There is no safe amount of drinking alcohol use for pregnant women and all types of alcohol can harm the developing fetus, the CDC says. All alcohol products containing 0.5% alcohol by volume are required to have warning labels saying that pregnant women should not drink alcohol due to the risk of birth defects.
Recent research has shown that – even for people who are not pregnant – the risks for heart disease, cancer and more than 200 other diseases, as well as premature death, increase with even moderate drinking.
The JAMA study also found that the percentage of all women who reported binge drinking (four or more drinks at one time) and heavy drinking (eight or more drinks a week) also rose to 4.6% and 2%, respectively, by 2023-2024.
Binge drinking and heavy drinking were also strongly associated with tobacco use. Among the pregnant women reporting high-risk drinking, 68% said they also used tobacco.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged in an advisory last year that the people should be more informed about the dangers of drinking and that alcohol should come with warning labels about cancer risks. But U.S. Dietary Guidelines updated under the Trump administration earlier this year opted for vague language about alcohol use, recommending drinking "less alcohol for better overall health."
