Abstract
Background
Evidence from animal studies suggests maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy has
detrimental effects on subsequent brain development in offspring. However, human data
in this area are limited. The aim of this study was to assess whether caffeine intake
by women during pregnancy is associated with impaired cognitive development in offspring
at age 5.5 years.
Methods
Multivariate modeling was conducted using data of 1083 mother-child pairs from a population-based
birth cohort in France followed from pregnancy to age 5.5 years of the children. Measures
included an estimate of maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy, children’s IQ at
age 5.5, and individual and family characteristics.
Results
Prenatal caffeine exposure was common in the sample (91%) with 12% displaying an intake
≥200 mg/day (high). Multivariable modeling showed a significant negative relationship
between caffeine intake and children’s IQ at 5.5 years (−.94 [95% confidence interval
= −1.70, −.17] full IQ unit per 100 mg daily caffeine intake). In particular, children
of mothers consuming ≥200 mg/day were more likely to have borderline or lower IQ compared
with children of mothers consuming <100 mg/day (13.5% vs. 7.3%; odds ratio = 2.30,
95% confidence interval = 1.13, 4.69).
Conclusions
We found an association between caffeine intake during pregnancy and impaired cognitive
development in offspring, a result in line with animal data. More epidemiologic and
biologically grounded research is needed to determine whether this association is
causal. This finding suggests that conservative guidelines regarding the maximum caffeine
intake recommended in pregnancy (i.e., 200 mg/day) should be maintained.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 03, 2015
Accepted:
August 13,
2015
Received:
March 13,
2015
Identification
Copyright
© Society of Biological Psychiatry, 2015.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Should Pregnant Women Worry About Caffeine?Biological PsychiatryVol. 80Issue 9
- PreviewIn this issue of Biological Psychiatry, Galéra et al. (1) present a large sample study of maternal prenatal caffeine exposure and cognitive delays in their children by 5.5 years of age. Mothers were recruited during their pregnancy and interviewed both prenatally about their caffeine consumption in the year before pregnancy and at delivery about their consumption during the third trimester of pregnancy. As the authors indicate, the strengths of their study include the large sample size, the prospective assessment of caffeine exposure, and relevant covariates, including assessment of language use at home.
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